The president of the Spanish National Committee on Large Dams issues a stark warning at the ICE-CICCP summit.
Years of underinvestment in dam maintenance in Spain could have dire consequences, a leading expert in reservoir engineering has warned.
Carlos Granell was addressing the fourth bilateral summit of the ICE and its Spanish counterpart, the Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos (CICCP).
Granell, who is president of the Spanish National Committee on Large Dams, highlighted some of the harsh effects of climate change his country had recently endured.
Extreme weather events included the five-day rainstorm in Valencia at the end of October 2024. This caused devastating floods across the province that killed more than 200 people.
The death toll could have been higher had the deluge caused a dam failure – a genuine possibility if it had struck a slightly different area, Granell suggested.
He argued that ensuring the structural safety of Spain’s 1,200-plus dams required an investment of €250m (£220m) a year. Despite this, average annual spending on maintenance had been 20% of that figure over the past three years.
“Climate change is going to intensify all over the world,” said Granell, who is also chief executive of Granell Hydraulic Engineers. “We must increase resilience – and that means we must invest more than ever in dam safety.”
At the annual event, hosted on this occasion by the ICE at its London headquarters, the institution and the CICCP restated their commitment to sharing knowledge.
Several speakers stressed the importance of working together to ensure the resilience of critical infrastructure in both countries.
They included Granell’s fellow keynote speaker, Darren Shaw, chair of the British Dam Society.
He noted that, while the UK has an excellent reservoir safety record, many of its dams are 100-plus years old and are also feeling the impact of climate change.
A drought during 2022, for instance, had included the driest July in water-stressed southern England since records began in 1836.
Such conditions have resulted in “low water levels for extended periods”, said Shaw, who is also an associate director at Arup. “This can lead to the drying and cracking of dam fill materials, which makes them more prone to leakage and other durability issues.”
He added that rainstorms are becoming more frequent and intense in the UK too.
As a result, “we’re finding that overflows and spillways… may not have adequate capacity to safely pass extreme storm events without risking the integrity of the dam.
“This is leading to major remedial works to raise dams and increase their overflow capacity.”
Shaw noted that the expansion of settlements downstream of many reservoirs is also making the consequences of a potential dam failure more severe.
Population growth is one of the main factors behind the UK’s investment in new reservoirs, with today’s daily water demand of 15,000 million litres predicted to rise to 20,000 million litres by 2055.
The UK is planning to build nine large reservoirs over the next two decades.
Such projects represent “a major opportunity to grow and upskill our industry”, according to Shaw.
But he also expressed concern that the scale of the programme might put the supply chain under excessive strain, increasing the risk of delays and overspends.
Treating nature as critical infrastructure could transform the UK’s economy, writes Professor Anusha Shah and Jyoti Sehdev.
The review forms part of a wider programme to reform building safety following the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.
At the latest UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF), the ICE spoke about the need to stick to the plan and get on with delivery.
