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Hydropower and Floods
Published in Saeid Eslamian, Faezeh Eslamian, Flood Handbook, 2022
Sachin Kumar, Aanchal Singh S. Vardhan, Akanksha Singh S. Vardhan, R. K. Saket, D.P. Kothari, Saeid Eslamian
Many dams and their associated reservoirs are designed entirely or partially to aid in flood protection and control, as shown in Figure 5.26. Many large dams have flood-control reservations. A reservoir level must be kept below a specific elevation before the onset of the rainy/summer melt season to allow a certain amount of space in which floodwaters can fill. Other beneficial uses of dam-created reservoirs include hydroelectric power generation, water conservation, and recreation. Reservoir and dam construction and design are based upon standards typically set out by the government. In the United States, dam and reservoir design are regulated by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The design of a dam and reservoir follows guidelines set by the USACE. It covers topics such as design flow rates considering meteorological, topographic, streamflow, and soil data for the watershed above the structure (US, 1997). The term dry dam refers to a dam that serves purely for flood control without any conservation storage (e.g., Mount Morris Dam, Seven Oaks Dam).
Water Resources Engineering
Published in P.K. Jayasree, K Balan, V Rani, Practical Civil Engineering, 2021
P.K. Jayasree, K Balan, V Rani
Many dams and their associated reservoirs are designed completely or partially to aid in flood protection and control. Reservoirs are one of the most direct methods of flood control through storing surface runoff; thus, attenuating flood waves and storing flood water to be redistributed without exceed in downstream flood conditions. Many large dams have flood-control arrangements in which the level of reservoir must be kept below a certain elevation before the onset of the rainy/summer melt season to allow a certain amount of space in which floodwaters can fill. The term dry dam refers to a dam that serves purely for flood control without any conservation storage. For flood control, it is ideal to maintain the reservoir at the lowest level possible for storage. Keeping the reservoir at a high level provides the ability to maintain low flows and hydropower production in droughts.
Dams
Published in Mohammad Albaji, Introduction to Water Engineering, Hydrology, and Irrigation, 2022
A dry dam also known as a flood retarding structure is a dam designed to control flooding. It normally holds back no water and allows the channel to flow freely, except during periods of intense flow that would otherwise cause flooding downstream.
Experimental study of embankment breach based on its soil properties
Published in ISH Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 2020
For developing empirical relationships, the data sets of 25 experiments (19 experimental data based on soil properties including Cestero (2014) experiments and 6 experimental data based on construction parameters) are included in the multivariable regression. Tables 5 and 6 present the construction parameters and the experimental results of the results of phase 2, Cestero (2014), phase 3, and phase 4 experiments, respectively. The purpose of this analysis is to relate the five breaching parameters studied with the soil properties (control variables) of the different embankment. Dam dry density (ρdry), dam height (h), and soil cohesion (C) are lumped into a single parameter known as the embankment soil factor (fs). The other four control variables are relative particle size (Dr), reservoir volume reference (Vr), relative compaction effort (Er), and erodibility. The erodibility factor is defined as low, medium, or high on the basis of the mean particle size (d50) of the soil mixture used in the embankment and is presented in the form of dummy variables. These breach parameters and control variables are stated in dimensionless form, as shown in Table 7.
Making room for nature? Applying the Dutch Room for the River approach to flood risk management in Alberta, Canada
Published in International Journal of River Basin Management, 2022
E. A. Bogdan, M. A. Beckie, K. J. Caine
The second criticism was that these mega-infrastructure projects in Alberta were a power maneuver to fulfil politicians’ ambitions for gaining more votes. Announcements of the projects for High River and Calgary were first made by Premier Redford just days before a leadership review (which she lost) and then were repeated within three weeks of Jim Prentice becoming premier and three days before he called a byelection. Typically, mega-infrastructure solutions are recognized as providing ‘reassurance – and the political pay off – that more nuanced strategies do not’ (Bozikovic 2015, para. 61). Here, the announcements may have been expedited to provide Albertans with reassurance against future flooding during a time when emotions of fear and loss were still heightened. But the proposed mega-infrastructure projects were met with criticism for not following due process for environmental assessment, technical studies, cost–benefit analysis, or stakeholder engagement (Howell and Markusoff 2013, Offin 2014, Wright 2014). These criticisms were particularly strong regarding the Springbank dry dam for Calgary, which Premier Prentice described as ‘an innovative “Room for the River” dry reservoir’ (GoA 2014c, para. 4). The Springbank dry dam was not described as an RftR project by any other political figure or in documents by the Alberta government, Alberta WaterSmart, or Deltares, and thus the mislabelling was suspected to be a political strategy to increase buy-in and pre-empt opposition.10 It was argued that Premier Prentice's announcement ‘plac[ed] political expediency before sound policy-making’ (McClure 2014, para. 28). For some Albertans it was a ‘slap-dash’ decision that they contrasted with the ‘thoughtful transformation’ (Wright 2014, para. 11) of the Dutch RftR project in Nijmegen, which involved extensive stakeholder engagement and created a unique urban park, winning numerous awards.