Dam-break occurrence in the Brazilian dam Euclides da Cunha
In Portugal there are now almost 100 large dams and 800 medium and small dams. A large percentage of them were built some decades ago. These dams have been well designed and constructed but now they may not meet the present design of standards and new environmental and hydrologic conditions.
There is also an increasing number of small and medium dams that are or have been built with limited funds and that can not afford detailed studies.
According to the new Portuguese dam safety legislation (1990) all major dams must have a dam break analysis: owners and governmental agencies have to define flooding maps, risk zoning and emergency plans.
Dam-Break Flood Risk Management in Portugal is a project financed by NATO Science and Society Science for Stability Programme with the objective of developing and supporting technical and policy guidelines as well as instruments for safety management activities and to solve problems related to potential abnormal floods induced by dam failures.
Comments may be directed to tviseu@lnec.pt
