Ways of regulating dam safety in Sri Lanka
Prevention is better than cure. It is a proverb we hear mostly in health care. This is equally valid in the disaster management arena as well. Whatever action taken to prevent or mitigate any disaster will save lives, property, environment and government funds for post-disaster rehabilitation which could be used for better purpose. We, Sri Lankans have learnt many lessons in the past during the Tsunami, recurring landslides, frequent floods and even during the Meetotamulla garbage collapse, where sufficient preparedness was not in place during pre-disaster phase.
It is always the responsibility of the professionals to bring emerging issues to the attention of policy makers in the government to take appropriate measures to prevent similar calamities. In view of that the Sri Lanka National Committee of Large Dams (SLNCOLD) with the partnership of Water Forum of Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Association of Institution of Civil Engineers, UK (SLAice) and Committee of Network for Water & Eco-system for Paddy Fields (SL_INWEPF) organised a dialogue ‘The need of Dam Safety Regulations in Sri Lanka’ on August 28. More than 60 professionals representing above professional organizations met in Colombo to share their opinion on same.
Understanding the issue
The dialogue started with a presentation by Siraj Perera, Programme Director, Risk and Resilience of Water Industry Division in the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning in Melbourne, Australia, who shared his immense experience on how dam safety regulation is being done in Australia as well as in many other countries.
Dams are built to safeguard the interest of society by storing water required for irrigation, domestic or industrial usage, inland fish breeding, hydropower generation, flood protection or environmental purposes. However, society and environment needs to be protected from the dam itself, as it may cause devastation during a failure. Dams are considered as hazardous installations and hence the owner is accountable and responsible for ensuring safety.
Mr. Perera explained why there is a necessity for the regulation of dam safety activities carried out by different organisations within the country, by emphasising the need to maintain at least minimum standards by all the dam owner organisations, which is not in place at the moment in Sri Lanka. It will provide a level of assurance to government and the community on safety of these highly vulnerable structures.
Different model for regulation
There are many forms of regulations a country can adopt, depending on the requirements and the resources available.
There can be different types of regulators depending on their input to the process. The first category, ‘Oversight’ regulator, normally relies on assessment provided by the operator and approves the same. This type of regulation is being done in most of the states in Australia. The second category is ‘Assess and Approve’ regulator, who would assess the dam condition using independent resources but approves the documents provided by the owner. The simplest type is a regulator who will ensure that the correct processes are followed and ensures the operator gets appropriate advice from the competent resources persons. It will be merely a light handed administrative role played by the regulator, who will be able to operate with meagre funds.
Benefits of dam safety regulation
It may be necessary to understand the benefits of regulatory arrangements as it will be a new entity to be introduced into the current institutional mechanism. The regulator could facilitate skill sharing among various organisations to get the most effective solution after exploiting different skills and expertise in these organisations. It shall provide unbiased, cost effective technical solutions for the dam owners when the services of independent expert opinions are required.
Regulator can conduct discussions with individual dam operators on safety programmes and reporting quality. Proper recording of the incident and the procedure for follow up will provide a valuable data base for future audits.
In Sri Lanka, thickly populated small dams exit in cascades posing threats to even large dams in the cascade. Management of small dams is being done by farmer organisations who do not have technical expertise or reserved funds to be used in an emergency. Explicit government regulation needs to be in force in this situation to bring the risk to the minimal level.
The public is more and more challenged with technical issues in their personal life, especially considering safety of lives and livelihood and hence reliability of technical components is not accepted without question. However much the engineers are confident on design and organizational measures are being taken to mitigate the negative impact of their creations, the assurance will not be accepted by the society at the same spirit.
With the advancement of technology and understanding of the risk of dams, many countries have already moved towards establishment of regulatory mechanisms to suit their situation. The panel and the audience expressed their views emphasizing the need for a dam safety regulatory mechanism also in Sri Lanka considering the changing scenario.
(This article has been sent by the Institution of Engineers of Sri Lanka as part of series in the Business Times to provide awareness and expose the public to many issues pertaining to engineering and engineering standards in the country).