Javier Fluixa & Adrian Morales:
Challenges of Managing Dam Safety Risks in the Context of Climate Change
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Dams and protective dikes are critical infrastructures whose failure has high economic and social consequences. Risk analysis techniques are a suitable methodology to inform decision-making in a justifiable, objective and clear way. These approaches have traditionally assumed the stationarity of climatic conditions when assessing dam safety. However, climate change is expected to have a major impact on dam safety, leading to potential damaging impacts in terms of economic, social and environmental costs. Owners and operators of dams must adapt their mid- and long-term management and adaptation strategies to new climate scenarios.
We propose a comprehensive time-dependent approach to incorporate climate change impacts in dam safety management. The goal is to design adaptation strategies to future risks and create modern tools that allow us to integrate climate change in decision making.
Javier Fluixa is a Civil Engineer and PhD in Hydraulic Engineering with over 10 years of national and international experience in hydrology, dam risk management and climate change adaptation.
Adrián Morales Torres holds a degree as Civil Engineer, a MSc in Hydraulic Engineering and Environment and a PhD in Civil Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV, Spain). He has more than 10 years of experience in the field of dam safety management, working on the application of a risk analysis methodology for dam safety management for more than 60 dams at national and international levels, owned by public and private entities.