Dam Integrity Advisory Committee

DIAC

The Dam Integrity Advisory Committee (DIAC) was formed in 2015 with senior technical staff from Alberta Chamber of Resource (ACR) member companies who own and operate dams in Alberta. The committee meets 2 to 4 times/year to steward, support, guide, and facilitate the implementation of dam safety in industry, in Alberta. The goals of DIAC are:

Share operating experiences, lessons learned and industry practices
Maintain a watching brief on worldwide dam integrity incidents, issues and trends
Identify new technologies relevant to dam safety
Discuss and develop resource sector consensus on applied standards
Facilitate discussion with regulators on issues of mutual interest
Collaborate with universities to develop courses and young professionals
Develop strategies to attract students to geotechnical/dam safety careers
Make technical reference lists and other relevant information available to dam owners
Advise the ACR board on emerging trends in responsible dam ownership
Assemble and communicate success es of ACR members

Since startup, DIAC has supported and prepared the development of position/discussion papers on a range of dam safety topics and issues:

Engineer of Record role and other key dam safety roles
Assessment tool for EOR/DOR competency
Shared best practices database for dam safety
Guidance on thinking clearly and communicating effectively about risk
Supported development of regulatory guidelines and practices in Alberta
Assessment tool for landforms containing potentially flowable tailings
Investigated the availability (possible shortage) of qualified dam safety personnel

DIAC has initiated or supported several initiatives or projects through partnerships between DIAC members and third parties (e.g., CAPP, COSIA, etc):

Regulatory closure mapping initiative (CAPP)
Emergency dam breach response trials in the (oil sands operators)
CanBreach research on the impacts from dam breaches (universities, consultants)
Rainfall database in the oilsands working group (COSIA)
Seismic monitoring in the oilsands working group (COSIA)
Liquefaction working group (COSIA)

The ongoing work for 2023 is focused on progressing the use of and implementing the assessment tool for potentially liquefiable tailings in landforms, addressing a perceived shortage of qualified dam safety personnel, and several COSIA initiatives related to assessing possible impacts from rainfall, seismicity and liquefiable soils on tailings dams in the oilsands.