International Commission on Large Dams 27th Congress and 90th Annual Meeting

The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) was founded in 1928, the central office is located in Paris, to provide a forum for discussion and for the exchange of knowledge and experience in dam engineering for engineers and others concerned with the development of water resources. Its objectives are to encourage improvements in dam engineering in all its aspects, and in all phases of the planning, design, construction and operation of dams and associated works.

With a present total of 102 member countries, ICOLD leads the profession in ensuring that dams are built and operated safely, efficiently, economically, and with a minimum environmental impact. For 40 years, ICOLD has been particularly concerned to enhance the profession’s awareness of the social and environmental aspects of dams and reservoirs, and to broadening its perspective in such a way that these aspects receive the same attention and conscientious treatment as the technical aspects.

Sharing Water: Multi-Purpose of Reservoirs and Innovations

Theme 1: Territorial and Water Multi-purpose Issues

• 1A. Evaluation of current and future resources and needs
• 1B. Evaluation of socio-environmental and biodiversity benefits and impacts, positive and negative externalities
• 1C. Analysis of resilience and adaptability of projects to respond to climate change and changing uses. Decision making methods for choosing a solution, cost-benefits analysis at a regional scale
• 1D. Lessons learnt from recent water resource crises (drought, floods…)

Theme 2: Governance and Funding

• 2A. Institutional aspects, stakeholder commitments and inter-relationships
• 2B. Financial aspects, project funding
• 2C. Participatory approaches, stakeholders involvement
• 2D. Special cases of cross-border assets

Theme 3: Innovative solutions in reservoir uses

• 3A. Multi-purpose hydraulic projects: energy storage, hydropower, hybrid solutions with other renewable intermittent energies, irrigation, navigable waterways, water supply, floods mitigation, protection against marine submersions…
• 3B. Combining structural and non-structural solutions
• 3C. Integrating a project into a territory with multiple reservoirs
• 3D. Complementarities and synergies with intermittent renewable energy, related issues

Theme 4: Operating Multi-purpose facilities

• 4A. Hydrology for resource management at short and medium term
• 4B. Tools for operation related decision making including risk management
• 4C. Short, medium and long-term operation simulation and modelling
• 4D. Water sharing criteria, trade-off between uses, operation compatibility of additional uses
• 4E. Performance evaluation of asset management methods