Spotlight On... NZSOLD

Vital statistics

Your name: Dewi Knappstein
Your role: Vice-chair
Your Group’s name: New Zealand Society on Large Dams (NZSOLD)
Your Group’s field or special interest area: Safe and sustainable dam and reservoir design, construction, operation and management in New Zealand, for the benefit of our members, communities and the environment.

What value or experiences do members gain from being part of your engineering group?

As a member, you’ll stay connected with the latest activity in the dams industry, upcoming training opportunities and new publications through regular newsletters, specialist symposia, workshops and webinars.

You’ll also have access to valuable technical resources, including priority access to the NZ Dam Safety Guidelines (DSG), which are regarded as recommended practice for dam engineering in Aotearoa. Through NZSOLD’s membership of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), you can access international technical information and recommended practices, as well as opportunities to contribute to the profession on the international stage.

The NZSOLD Emerging Professionals Group provides further support to members with less than 10 years’ experience in the dams industry. This support includes field trips, technical webinars, competitions, scholarships, and opportunities to connect with other professionals at social events.

What is your Group Committee most proud of, and why?

If I had to pick just one thing, my personal vote would be for NZSOLD’s NZ Dam Safety Guidelines (DSG).

The DSG are and have been the backbone of dam engineering in New Zealand for decades. The DSG are filled with useful information and have been my go-to reference throughout 20 years as a dam engineer.

NZSOLD first developed and published the DSG in 1995. Since then, NZSOLD has updated them in 2000, 2015, 2023 and 2024 to incorporate advances in practice and the country’s evolving needs. The content is extensive and technically rigorous – based on a review of international practice for the New Zealand context, challenge and debate amongst experts, and multiple levels of peer review. The beneficial impact of the DSG on the safety and quality of New Zealand dams is huge.

How does your group work with Engineering New Zealand and other organisations to advance your field or interest area?

NZSOLD engages with the latest international advances as a Member Country of ICOLD. New Zealand representatives contribute towards technical bulletins on several ICOLD Technical Committees and attend ICOLD’s annual gatherings, providing opportunities to exchange learnings with other Member Countries. These activities build relationships with international experts that NZSOLD then calls on, say to peer review the DSG or speak at educational events for our members.

NZSOLD also has a close relationship with the Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD). Every third year, NZSOLD and ANCOLD hold a combined conference, alternating between New Zealand and Australia.

Within Aotearoa, NZSOLD connects with parallel industries and other technical groups where there’s benefit to our members. For example, NZSOLD has collaborated on university career showcases with the New Zealand Hydropower Group (NZHG), which, like NZSOLD, is a technical interest group of Engineering New Zealand.

It’s always possible to do more. We’d love other groups and organisations to reach out to us with ideas for collaboration.

How does your group’s mahi contribute to the lives of Kiwis?

NZSOLD’s ultimate mission is to protect people, property and the environment, present and future, from the harmful effects of a dam failure or an uncontrolled release of reservoir contents. Safe and sustainable dam engineering prevents harm to communities and the environment; underpinning the social ‘license to operate’ for dams that provide critical benefits like water supply, flood mitigation and renewable energy.

The mission described above drives NZSOLD’s activities, such as producing and disseminating guidance on recommended practice via the DSG, connecting New Zealand to relevant international practice and advances, and delivering symposia, conferences and events that provide training and opportunities for industry dialogue.

What’s a common misconception about your field or interest area that your Group would like to correct?

Dams are sometimes seen as either all good or all bad. However, when stripped back to their intrinsic function, dams retain water/other fluid, create a difference between upstream and downstream water/fluid levels, and change the timing of releases – the extent to which this is good or bad depends on the specific application. Costs, impacts and benefits are complex and unique to each dam.

On a related but different note, I have encountered several projects where financial models and go/no-go decisions for new dams have not fully reflected the longevity and scale of their benefits. The benefits of dams can include flood mitigation, relieving tension between economic and environmental demands for water in overallocated catchments, local food production, community water supply and renewable energy production. I’m not sure why these financial models did not fully capture the benefits – perhaps because some significant benefits to communities and the environment are difficult to quantify and do not provide direct return to an investor within a business timeframe.

What challenge do engineers in your group’s field or interest area need to solve right now?

Dam safety management of “Classifiable” dams has recently come under the Building (Dam Safety) Regulations 2022. The introduction of regulations has presented challenges as well as opportunities.

Technical practitioners have had to learn about and integrate the regulations into their services. Owners and operators that were already following recommended practice per the DSG have had to update existing (often extensive) systems to comply, and demonstrate compliance, with the new regulations.

Owners and operators that have not historically followed the DSG, have faced the even larger challenge of setting up entirely new systems from scratch – understanding the requirements, finding budget, hiring staff and/ or upskilling existing staff, developing and documenting procedures, and potentially making physical changes on site like installing instrumentation or even upgrading a dam. While the challenges are very real, higher risk dams without dam safety management systems also present a step-change opportunity for risk reduction.

Regional authorities, charged with administering the regulations, have also had to set up new systems – finding budget, developing new procedures and supporting information and communication systems, as well as hiring staff or upskilling existing staff that may be new to dam engineering.

The introduction of regulations is an opportunity to reflect critically on consistency of practice, take a fresh look with many new eyes to the industry, and ultimately improve the management of dam safety risk.

What advice does your group have for the next generation of engineers in Aotearoa?

Consider dam engineering as a career. There are more dams in Aotearoa than many people realise, and the need for safe and sustainable dam engineering will only increase with climate change, increasing flood hazard, growing pressure on water resources and ageing infrastructure on which future New Zealanders will depend.

Dam engineering is an area where you can make a tangible difference – on the scale of communities and across generations – through sound judgement and expertise.

If you’re interested in getting involved in dam engineering, consider joining NZSOLD’s Emerging Professionals Group (EPG) for free. The EPG is a community of young professionals, early career engineers, researchers, project managers and students with a shared passion for dam engineering and related fields. The EPG provides a platform for networking, professional development and knowledge sharing to help shape the future leaders of the industry.

About the New Zealand Society on Large Dams (NZSOLD)

NZSOLD advances the technology of dam engineering and supports socially and environmentally responsible development and management of water resources. NZSOLD is actively involved with technical, environmental, social, economic, regulatory and administrative aspects of dams and their safety.

Our Spotlight On series showcases Engineering New Zealand’s groups and their place in Aotearoa New Zealand’s engineering landscape.