More public access to German dam data, academic demands

A dam in Germany

A University of Salford academic is calling for more public access to the state of dams in Germany after his quick assessment toolkit uncovered several at a comparatively high risk of failure.

Professor Miklas Scholz has developed a quick assessment toolkit which has been used in Baden (Germany) as well as in Scotland and England.  Using the toolkit he has assessed over 220 dams in the German region and found that although most are well maintained, there is very little publicly available information on their risk of failure and the impact this can have.

With his system, people living in areas near dams would have access to a simple traffic light scale of risk based on a scientific and rigorous series of tests, which can be applied in under three hours.

He’s now calling for Germany’s engineering associations to relax their strict rules on how assessments are carried out and how the results are communicated.

“I have sent my research paper to several engineering journals in Germany and met a very unnecessarily and unhelpful traditional attitude.” he said. “My novel and timely toolkit has been proven in the United Kingdom to be easy to use. It can be carried out without costly detailed site visits to identify the most at-risk dams.

“It seems that German engineers who are responsible for these dams are unwilling to change their methods or open them up to proper public scrutiny.”

One journal respondent told Professor Scholz: “If these figures were published, it is likely that the German population will react very negatively.”

Professor Scholz found that German dams are comparatively well constructed compared to their British counterparts, but that some basins in remote areas are at a higher risk of failure, although they are built away from population centres.

He concluded: “The ideal scenario would be for the German authorities to try my system to reduce costs at no additional risk to the public by identifying the most at-risk dams for further detailed study.  As a side-benefit, the results are also easily published in a way that untrained members of the public have simple access to.”