Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO)
Upcoming Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) Events
This is an interactive course designed to help participants learn about key tools that will help improve emergency preparedness and enhance communication during dam and levee failures and incidents. Participants will gain a better understanding of the emergency action planning process, including evacuation planning and emergency response methods.
Learning objectives attendees will receive from this course:
- Learn how to improve the integrated operations between dam owners, emergency planners, first responders, and dam engineers.
- Understand the basic potential failure modes for dams and levees.
- Understand the basics of integrated operations under the Incident Command System.
- Understand the basic elements of an emergency action plan for dams and levees.
- Understand how to effectively prepare, test, and improve emergency action plans.
- Learn how to improve communications during dam and levee incidents.
- Understand how to improve evacuation planning.
- Learn about new technologies that can help improve your emergency response.
This webinar provides a practical guide to understanding and participating in dam safety-focused regulatory reviews with confidence. Participants will gain insight into the distinct roles involved in the process, providing clarity in responsibilities and expectations. The webinar will provide strategies to locate and interpret relevant regulations, including state-specific guidance. Attendees will also learn the key elements of complete submittals and strategies for responding to regulatory comment letters. Through expert insights and real-world examples, this webinar equips professionals with the tools needed to navigate regulatory challenges effectively, minimize delays, and achieve compliance.
Learning objectives attendees will receive from this webinar:
- Understand roles and responsibilities in the regulatory review process.
- Discover where to find and understand state regulations and state-specific guidance.
- Identify common types of engineering submittals and the key elements required for a complete submittal.
- Learn how to be productive in responding to a comment letter.
- Be prepared to ask yourself, “Is it defensible?”
The current guidance on aggregate soil filter gradations is based on research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the 1980s. Subsequently, various federal agencies (Natural Resources Conservation Service, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and FEMA) published step-by-step guidance for aggregate filter gradation design based on that research. The resulting guidelines represent a great advance in filter gradation design, but not all practitioners understand the reasons for the various steps in the process and the latitude available in translating the results of the process into project specifications. This situation can result in the specification of filter gradations that are hard to find or are excessively expensive.
This webinar will 1) briefly review the history of aggregate soil filter gradation criteria, 2) explain the purposes of the various steps in the current guidelines, 3) illustrate with examples the latitude available to designers in developing project specifications from the results of the step-by-step guideline calculations, and 4) explain how some of the steps in the calculations may need to be modified for the coarser zones in multi-stage filter drain systems.
Learning objectives attendees will receive from this webinar:
- An understanding of the history of aggregate soil filter gradation criteria.
- An understanding of the desired characteristics of an aggregate soil filter.
- An understanding of the purposes of the various control points determined in the current step-by-step procedures for establishing aggregate filter gradation requirements.
- An understanding of the latitude available to a designer in developing an aggregate filter gradation specification using the control points.
- An understanding of adjustments to the calculation procedures that may be needed for multi-stage filter/drain systems.
Blasting near dams demands more than technical expertise—it requires precision, foresight, and an uncompromising commitment to structural safety. This webinar is designed for dam operators, engineers, and infrastructure contractors who face the challenges of rock excavation in high-risk environments. This webinar will dive into the proven techniques and critical safeguards that enable successful blasting near sensitive water infrastructure.
Learning objectives attendees will receive from this webinar:
- Vibration control strategies to protect dam integrity.
- Blast design fundamentals tailored to critical structures.
- Engineering and administrative safeguards for high-consequence projects.
- How blasting projects should be staffed for safe and effective, repeatable blasting.
- How to evaluate and select a blasting contractor for dam-related work.
This webinar is intended for individuals who are responsible for performing inspections on dams. The goal is to provide a connection between what can be observed in a field inspection and how dams fail, with particular focus on the risk analysis and how inspections inform the process.
Learning objectives attendees will receive from this webinar:
- Risk analysis and how it is used as part of dam safety risk management.
- Definition of potential failure modes.
- Examples of specific dam failure case histories.
- How inspections have or could have reduced the likelihood of failure.
- Examples of potential failure modes and how observations during inspections help inform us of the risk of failure.