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Dams and Development E-Paper Contents

p. -1 of 74 BACK | NEXT Home Page of Dams and Development Foreword I. Why an e-paper on dams and development? II. Assessing options III. Participatory processes IV. Social impacts V. Environmental impacts VI. Benefit distribution VII. Dam safety and sustainability VIII. Existing projects IX. Improving governance X. What other organizations say XI. ADB, Dams, and Development XII. References Contact Us

World Commission on Dams - restore, improve, optimize

Exploring the opportunities for improving output from existing projects was considered by WCD as a priority over new projects in the options assessment process.

In Strategic Priority No.3, Addressing Existing Dams, WCD pointed to the benefits that can be attained from existing systems - policy principle 3.2 proposes that:

'Programmes to restore, improve and optimize benefits from existing large dams are identified and implemented. Options to consider include rehabilitate, modernise and upgrade equipment and facilities, optimise reservoir operations and introduce non-structural measures to improve the efficiency of delivery and use of services'. (p227)

WCD identified three categories of improvement:

• 'modernising and upgrading equipment and controls, and rehabilitating or expanding facilities associated with the dam;
• optimising operation of existing reservoirs including daily and seasonal water levels and release patterns for single or multi-purpose uses such as flood management and hydro generation. This can be done for a single dam, or in co-ordination with other reservoirs, lakes or water course diversions regulating river flow in a basin; and
• optimising the role of the dam within the larger system it services. For example optimising the use of surface and ground water inputs in agriculture where water is a limiting factor, or using load management practices to optimise the coordination of hydro generation with other energy sources'. (p228)

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