Argonne National Laboratory Offers to Help Prepare Dams for Emergencies

Often leveraging the programs and resources of federal partners, experts from the Argonne National Laboratory help dam owners and operators and communities engage in critical planning for dams-related emergencies.

For example, to help communities better understand their risks and the potential consequences of a dam-related incident, experts from Argonne provide the expertise, coaching, and tools needed to develop emergency action plans through FEMA’s Collaborative Technical Assistance Program. Part of this process involves employing Argonne’s web-based, dam-break flood-simulation model – the Decision Support System for Water Infrastructural Safety (DSS-WISE™) Lite. This tool provides visualizations of flood scenarios, which are key to understanding the potential consequences of a dam failure. It has also been used in numerous real-world incidents as a decision-support tool to assist response efforts, including following Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Argonne’s work in strengthening dam safety and resilience extends to its research on hydroelectric dams that use a reservoir as a water supply. Argonne experts are reviewing liner systems to improve safety and minimize storage loss for reservoirs of closed-loop pumped storage hydropower plants. Lining materials are used to minimize water leakage or seepage losses and reduce the need for makeup water. Read more at Argonne National Laboratory.