| The
Dolgarrog Disaster, 1925 |
  In
1925, the failure of two dams caused a flood that swamped the
village of Dolgarrog in North Wales, killing 16 people. The
disaster was started by the failure of the Eigiau Dam, a small
gravity
dam. The water released from the reservoir
flooded downstream,
and overtopped the Coedty
Dam, an embankment
dam. This dam failed, releasing the huge volume of water
that flooded Dolgarrog.
| Reservoirs
Safety Legislation |
The disaster at Dolgarrog led the British
parliament to pass the Reservoirs (Safety Provisions) Act
in 1930 that introduced laws on the safety of reservoirs.
This has since been updated, and the current one is the Reservoirs
Act, 1975.
This Act covers the safety of all reservoirs
in the United Kingdom that can hold at least 25,000 cubic
metres of water. Under the Act, there is a "Panel"
(or group) of civil
engineers who are responsible for checking the safety
of these reservoirs and their dams. They are called "Panel
Engineers", and they can only belong to the Panel if
they are considered to be well qualified, and experienced,
in reservoir safety matters. Every reservoir has to be inspected
every 10 years, or more often, when it is necessary. Panel
Engineers also get involved with the construction of new reservoirs
and repairs and changes to existing ones.
The act makes reservoir owners legally
responsible for the safety of their reservoirs. They are required
to employ suitably qualified civil engineers to make regular
checks on safety in between the Panel Engineers' inspections.
These are some of the safety checks that
engineers do:
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