Dams and reservoirs
Dams and reservoirs have a vital role to play in improving water resource security, providing irrigation for food production, and developing hydropower schemes to increase supplies and storage of clean and reliable energy.
At the same time, climate change requires owners and operators to pay greater attention to sustainability and environmental impacts – including fish migration, water quality and ecosystem disruption – in order to satisfy regulators and funders.
Meanwhile financial constraints – securing adequate funding for maintenance, improvements and new construction projects – are an ongoing concern, especially in the public sector.
What can we do for you?
We bring more than 100 years of experience to engineering dam and reservoir projects, addressing the challenges you face in a range of areas:
Optimisation and modernisation
We work to improve capacity, safety and environmental performance, incorporating the latest technologies. We implement advanced control systems and strategies to enhance the efficiency and reliability of new and existing dams and reservoirs.
Risk management
We can help you understand and manage the full range of risks, from the structural, mechanical, operational and seismic risks that directly affect dam and reservoir safety and integrity to the wider concerns of climate change, as well as financial risk and the reputational risk associated with stakeholder and community relations.
Sustainability and environmental compliance
We work to design and upgrade assets for sustainable use – using low carbon materials and energy efficient technologies – and with attention to preserving biodiversity and managing water resources in a way that balances economic, social and environmental needs.
Tarbela Dam, Indus River, Pakistan. We conducted a sediment management study, the results of which have been critical in understanding the residual life and future management of this key asset which provides water for irrigation, vital regulation and flood control of the Indus River, and around 20% of Pakistan’s installed power capacity.
Engineering resilient dams and reservoirs for water security
Whether projects are for new construction or remedial works, we have both the technical expertise and the creative minds to design, build and manage dams and reservoirs equipped for the next century. Our expertise includes:
Our experience
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Chaglla hydropower project, PeruThe project’s sheer size and complexity, along with the dam type and topography, posed significant potential risks that needed clear identification and management to reassure lenders. We reviewed all technical and contractual components to achieve successful financial close of the US$1.2bn project, followed by regular construction monitoring. The project has already brought many positive social impacts to the local community, including the creation of 2,500 direct jobs and 10,000 indirect jobs.
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Devoll hydropower project, AlbaniaAlbania needs new energy resources to meet the growing demand for electricity, and its mountainous terrain lends itself to the development of hydropower schemes. We led the joint venture that supervised construction of the 73MW hydropower plant at Banja, which features a clay core rockfill dam 940m long and 80m high.
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Ngonye Falls hydropower project, Zambezi River, ZambiaThis run-of-river hydroelectric plant will help strengthen and stabilise the Zambian power network by reducing flows and losses from the south to the west of the country as well as support government policy to export electricity to neighbouring countries. Connecting to the grid through a 110km 330kV (initially energised at 220kV) transmission line to Sesheke on the border with Namibia, it will generate an average of 830GWh of electricity a year − enough for more than 200,000 Zambian households.
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Strines dam and reservoir, Yorkshire, UKStrines Reservoir was completed in 1869 and features a masonry spillway typical of the period. A physical model study showed the velocities on the spillway to be greater than the agreed asset standard of 8m/s, indicating a potential risk to the integrity of the structure under flood conditions with blocks subject to uplift forces. The solution would typically require replacement of a significant portion of the masonry lining with concrete. Using computational fluid dynamics modelling, however, we were able to find a more cost-effective solution after determining that only a subset of masonry blocks were prone to uplift. The cost saving was estimated at £1.2M.
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Tarbela Dam, Indus River, PakistanWe conducted a sediment management study, the results of which have been critical in understanding the residual life and future management of this key asset which provides water for irrigation, vital regulation and flood control of the Indus River, and around 20% of Pakistan’s installed power capacity. The study also informs our overall design work for the fourth Tarbela power plant extension, currently under construction, and the fifth extension project, which will increase the dam’s total generating capacity to 6.3GW.
