Webinar: Responding to Dam Emergencies

This event qualifies for 2 PDH

Many dam failures have been averted by dam owners and engineers taking quick and effective action to intervene and stop an active dam failure from progressing. The focus of this webinar is to present the most common failure modes at dams and provide information on actions that can be taken to prevent or delay each failure mode. Case studies will be used to show examples of successful interventions. Actions that could potentially do harm and make conditions worse will also be discussed. The seminar will conclude with an overview of the new “Dam Intervention Toolbox” and how this interactive resource can be used as a companion to an Emergency Action Plan to help dam owners be better prepared to respond to a dam emergency.

Five Learning Objectives of This Course:

Understand the most common failure modes at dams
Know what emergency measures can be taken to stop common failure modes at dams
Be aware of actions that can potentially make conditions worse
How to become prepared to respond to a dam emergency
Learn about the new "Dam Intervention Toolbox"

Speaker and Presenter Information

Paul Schweiger

Gannett Fleming, Inc.

Vice President

Paul is a Vice President of Gannett Fleming, Inc. and Manager of the Firm's Dams and Hydraulics Section in Camp Hill. He has over 33 years of consulting engineering experience and has served as a project engineer or manager for the design of eleven new dams and the design and technical review of many dam rehabilitation projects. He has inspected hundreds of dams across the nation including completing over 200 dam assessment reports. Paul is an approved FERC facilitator for performing potential failure modes analysis exercises for dams, Emergency Action Plan exercises, and Part 12 dam assessments. He regularly serves as an expert hydrology and hydraulics engineer on Independent External Peer Review panels for United States Army Corps of Engineers dam and flood control projects and has served on the National Dam Safety Review Board as the Private Sector Representative. Paul is currently serving on the Board of Consultants for the Oroville Spillway Emergency Recovery Project and the Oroville Dam Comprehensive Needs Assessment.

Relevant Government Agencies

Army, Dept of Agriculture, Dept of Energy, Dept of Homeland Security, Dept of the Interior, Dept of State, Other Federal Agencies, State Government, City Government, Municipal Government, FEMA, Federal Government, State & Local Government, Foreign Governments/Agencies