Review of developments in Victoria dam safety regulation since 2010
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2020
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Pisaniello, J.D.
Tingey Holyoak, J.
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There is the potential for loss of life, damage to property and social disruption if a dam fails.Victoria has in the order of 300,000 dams of varying size (Baillie, 2008) – the vast majority of which are very small and pose little risk if they fail. But for those dams that do pose considerable risksVictoria has developed an integrated dam safety management framework to manage the risks with the objective of achieving an acceptable public safety outcome at the least cost to society, while ensuring the responsibility for the safety of dams remain with the owners.The Victoria Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) is in 2019/20 undertaking a due diligence exercise to review it dam safety regulatory framework through its Water and Catchments Group. The previous dam safety regulatory review was undertaken by the Department in 2009/10.The objectives and scope of this Review are to:- examine the effectiveness of dam safety regulation in managing dam safety risks in Victoria;- ensure dam safety regulation in Victoria safeguards community interests;- confirm that dam safety regulation in Victoria is consistent with good practice elsewhere in Australia and overseas; and - identify opportunities to further improve Victoria’s dam safety regulatory framework.Central to this Review is an assessment of Victoria’s regulatory framework to ‘take stock’ of developments in the state over the past 10 years on the issues specifically identified in the 2009/10 review (per SKM, 2009; DSE, 2010). This means it is necessary to closely examine each of the two main distinguished dam sectors in the state: public dams owned by water corporations (which are essentially government owned entities), and privately-owned dams. The results of this exercise are presented in this report. The assessments were undertaken by Associate Professor John Pisaniello and Dr Joanne Tingey-Holyoak from the University of South Australia in consultation with Dr Mark Pearse and Dr Peter Hill of Hydrology and Risk Consulting (HARC) as part of DELWP’s engagement of HARC to undertake the 2019/20 Victorian dam safety regulatory framework Review. The assessments and comments provided in this report represent only those provided by A/Prof Pisaniello and Dr Tingey-Holyoak to Dr Pearse and Dr Hill which would later form part of a larger collaborative submission to DELWP.
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Copyright 2020 JD Pisaniello & Tingey-Holyoak