Workshops and Discussion Forums

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Tailings Dam Breach Analyses

Saturday October 21 | 8:30 am – 4:30 pm

Delta Winnipeg - Room: Assiboine A

Includes breakfast, breaks and lunch

Fee: $495.00

Review and guidance on the application of the CDA technical bulletin Tailings Dam Breach Analysis (TDBA) focusing on key considerations related to:

• Failure scenarios and failure modes and mechanisms for tailings facilities
• Geotechnical and hydrotechnical issues relevant to TDBA
• Rheological behavior of tailings
• Selection of TDBA modelling cases
• Breach modelling and outflow volume and hydrograph estimation
• Modelling of breach runout processes (hydrodynamic modelling)
• Geo-mechanical models and their limitations
• Scope and requirements of sensitivity analysis
• Common mistakes and pitfalls
• Mapping and reporting
• Analysis of recent case studies

Objective: 

• Provide additional understanding of CDA guidance on TDBA
• Raise awareness on relevant technical considerations
• Promote new developments in the science of tailings dam breach

Presenters: 

• Omid M. Mohseni, PhD, PE, Vice President, Senior Water Resources Engineer, Barr
• Shielan Liu Ph.D, P.Eng., Senior Numerical Modeller, KCB
• Zoubir Bouazza, P. Eng., M. Sc.A., Ph.D., Hydrotechnical Expert, BBA
• Michael Etezad, Senior Geotechnical Engineer, WSP
• Joanna Chen, Senior Geotechnical Engineer, WSP
• Mohammad Al-Mamun, Geotechnical Dam Lead, Prairies Region, Tetra Tech
• Violeta Martin, Specialist Hydrotechnical Engineer, Knight Piesold

 

 

 

Public Safety Around Dams and Site Tour

October 21 – 22, 2023 

Delta Winnipeg - Room:  Charleswood A

Includes breakfast, breaks and lunches

Includes half-day bus tour to St. Malo Dam

Bus will return on Sunday by 12:50 PM

Fee: $625.00

A 2 day course, Dams and Public Safety, provides training on public safety risk assessment based on the methodologies presented in the Canadian Dam Association’s Guidelines for Public Safety Around Dams, 2011. This will deliver a practical hands-on workshop providing realistic case studies and tools that can immediately be applied for the assessment of public safety risks at a facility. 

Dam Safety Guidelines usually address the various hazards which can lead to the failure of a dam and present methods to manage these risks. However, more people have died in accidents around dam sites that are not associated with structural failure of dams. Use of water resources for recreation and other purposes means dam owners and operators are expected to manage their facilities to minimize risk to the general public. The Canadian Dam Association issued the Guidelines for Public Safety Around Dams and three associated Technical Bulletins in 2011. 
This Workshop provides training on public safety assessments based on the methodology presented in the Guidelines. 
•    Workshop attendance is limited to maximize the opportunity for participation 
•    Case studies addressed by small working groups 
•    Presentations made by CDA-trained instructors 
•    Extensive training binders and electronic resources are provided to each registrant 
•    Site visit in the second day to a local dam (St. Malo Dam) for a hands on site evaluation and demonstration of the techniques learned. 

Who should attend? Managers and operators of dam facilities, regulators and consultants who make risk management assessments or decisions relating to public safety. 

 

Presenter: David Bonin

 

 

Dam Safety Review 

Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 8:30 am – 4:30 pm

Delta Winnipeg - Room: Assiniboine B

Includes breakfast, breaks and lunch

Fee: $495

This one-day workshop will cover concepts and processes developed in the CDA’s Technical Bulletin: Dam Safety Reviews.

Participants will develop an understanding of the following:

1. Dam Safety Review process as described in the CDA technical bulletin
2. Roles and expectations of the dam owner and review engineer
3. How a safety statement can be made and supported

Attendees will work through exercises to better understand how to scope a Dam Safety Review and learn what information is required to;

• assess the safety of a dam
• how to approach the hazard-failure mode-control aspect of a safety analysis,
• how to present the findings in a manner that supports decision-making by the dam owner

Printed course material is provided for attendees to use during the workshop and keep for future reference. Please note course materials do not include the Technical Bulletin. Tools and samples are also included. Exercises are completed in small groups, allowing for significant discussion and peer learning among workshop participants. The workshop is aimed at dam owners, consultants and regulators who want to gain a better understanding of good practice as described in the CDA’s Technical Bulletin: Dam Safety Reviews.

Workshop Objectives

The objectives of the workshop are:

1. Understand the expectations of a dam safety review consistent with guidance issued by the Canadian Dam Association including:
   • Provide an understanding of the Dam Safety Review process as outlined in CDA’s Technical Bulletin on Dam Safety Reviews
   • Provide an understanding of the roles and expectations of the Dam Owner and Review Engineer in a Dam Safety Review
   • Provide an understanding of how a safety statement can be made and supported
2. Provide a networking opportunity for dam professionals.

Exercises will be carried out to demonstrate a) the information required to assess the safety of a dam; b) a framework for considering hazards, failure modes, and controls; and c) the need for Dam Safety Review findings that support decision-making.

Workshop Agenda

Presenter:
Terry Oswell, BC Hydro, Dam Safety Program Engineer

Richard Donnelly, Global Principal Consultant, Dams and Waterpower, Hatch

 

 

Emergency Management for Dam Safety

Sunday, October 22, 2023 - 8:30 am – 4:30 pm

Delta Winnipeg - Delta A Room

Fee: $495

Includes breakfast, breaks and lunch

Tony Bennett (Director Dam and Public Safety, OPG)
Clare Raska (Independent Consultant, Former CDA President)
Margaret Trias (Independent Consultant, M. Trias Consulting)

This workshop outlines the process presented in the Technical Bulletin: Emergency Management for Dam Safety. Topics include risk assessment, maintenance of readiness, response and recovery. In addition, the workshop provides an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the dam owner and stakeholders, focusing on the importance of community engagement and the ways to promote community resilience. Tools and examples of good practices are presented for preparing and maintaining Dam Emergency Plans and inundation maps and determining activation levels for emergency response. The workshop is interactive with small group discussions and exercises that utilizes case studies to illustrate key points.

 

 

 

Environmental Consequence Classification (Mining Dams)

Sunday, October 22, 2023 - 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Delta Winnipeg - Room: Transcona

Includes lunch and a break

Fee:  $295

The workshop will describe the updated CDA Environmental Consequence Classification system for mining dams and how it is based on the premise of improving clarity and repeatability, which was laking in the old system. The fundamentals of the updated ECC system will be described in detail i.e., Ecological Impact, Intrinsic Hazard of Content, and Duration of Impact. Details on how to apply the new ECC system and describing the limitations of it will be provided. Several case studies will be discussed and worked through.

Objective: The objective of the workshop is to provide the participants a clear understanding of the new ECC system and how it is intended to be applied to mining dams.

Presenter: 
Lee Nikl, WSP, Senior Environmental Scientist, Fellow

 

 

 

Design and Construction Bulletin Discussion Forum

Sunday, October 22, 2023 - 9:00 am – 11:00 am

Delta Winnipeg - Room: Transcona

Fee: $150.00

Includes 1 coffee break

Outline of the new Bulletin on Design and construction considerations. (Expected to be available in time for the conference)

Key messages about the process of undertaking design and construction. Great expectations from the owner and the public.

How to make it right

What to avoid

Forum for sharing experiences

Presenter:
Tony Rattue, SNC-Lavalin, Senior Principal Engineer

 

 

 

 

Internal Erosion Potential Failure Modes and How to Monitor for Them

Sunday, October 22, 2023 - 8:30 am – 12:00 pm

Delta Winnipeg - Room: Delta B

Includes breakfast, break and lunch

Fee: $295.00

Internal erosion is the leading cause of embankment dam failures. Instrumentation and Monitoring can be used to monitor for internal erosion processes and to provide early warning detection. This Workshop will include overview and discussions of the internal erosion potential failure mode scenarios and how instrumentation can be used to monitor for them. Discussions regarding the monitoring of internal erosion probable failure modes will include the best practices for planning, implementing, and evaluating instrumentation data. Case study examples will be provided to facilitate learning and discussions.

Objective: 
Raise awareness of instrumentation and monitoring tools and techniques and how they can be used to detect potential failure modes.

Presenters: 
Jeff Barrett (Geokon), Pierre Choquet (RST), Josh Brown (Campbell Scientific), Amy Swerid (Stantec), Jonathan R. Fannin (University of British Columbia), Georgette Hlepas (USACE) 

 

 

 

 

Failure Modes Analyses - Working Group Update

Sunday, October 22, 2023 - 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Delta Winnipeg - Room: Delta B

Fee: $295.00

Includes lunch and a break

 

A CDA Working Group is currently developing a new technical bulletin on the Identification and Analysis of Failure Modes and Failure Mechanisms.  Techniques based on a systems approach and functional analyses are being adapted from various methods such as FMEA and PFMA.  The workshop will first go over the material and exercises on failure mode identification given previously at the 2022 St. John’s workshop.  It will then outline the approach that has been identified over the past year for the analysis of failure modes, and continues to be developed by the working group

Objective: Transfer of knowledge, awareness of new technical guidance in development, obtain feedback on failure modes analytical techniques being proposed

Presenter: 
Stephen Rigbey, SJR Consulting

 

 

Introduction to Dams and Site Tour

October 21-22

Delta Winnipeg - Room: Transcona (Oct 21)

Includes breakfast, breaks and lunches

Includes half-day bus tour to St. Malo Dam

Bus will return on Sunday by 12:50 PM

Fee: $595

Ideal for dam owners or professionals unfamiliar with dams, this course provides an introduction to the various types of dams, how they function, and how to identify and mitigate potential risks. Participants will also gain clarity on key roles and responsibilities. Specifically, attendees will learn about: 

• Typical dam components
• How embankment, concrete, and mining dams function
• Potential risks and how to mitigate them
• The importance of dam safety management and how to develop a plan

This is an interactive 1.5 day seminar that will include a hands-on tour to a local Manitoba Dam on Sunday morning where attendees will learn what a safe, well-maintained functioning dam looks like.

Tentative Workshop Agenda

Presenters: 

Miranda Lee

Bethanie Parker

Tony Rattue