Risk and Consequences of Farm Dam Failure in Australia

Dams provide many benefits and are an important part of Australia civil works infrastructure. There are between 200,000-300,000 dams in the State of Victoria alone. However, many dams fail due to inadequate design, improper operation, inadequate maintenance, or unusually large floods. Dam failure can result in rapid and unexpected flooding, potential loss of life, and significant and costly property damage.
The majority of these farm dams, do not present any danger to people, services or property because they are below ground and have small volumes of water stored above the surrounding natural surface or are relatively remote from habitation. However there are also many larger farm dams with storage capacities of more than 1,000 megalitres that are now surrounded by urban expansion and abutting major tourist attractions. These dams do present a risk to life, property and environment.
This paper presents an overview and discussion on the use of an inventory of Potentially Hazardous Dams in the State of Victoria and discusses some of the issues arising from past dam failures. Also it presents a "rule of thumb" methodology being used for calculating the areas at risk and consequences downstream of the storage and issues related to the prediction of People at Risk (PAR). 8 pp., 12 references.