Dam safety regulations coming into force

Do you have a dam on your property and if so, does it meet safety regulations? The new Building (Dam Safety) Regulations 2022 come into force on 13 May 2024, covering dams of a certain height and volume threshold.

All dams will need a Potential Impact Classification (PIC) to assess what impact a dam failure could have on the community, major infrastructure, historic or cultural places and the environment. The regulations have been made to increase dam resilience and safety, Building Control Group Manager Dhyanom Gala said. The regulations also provide a nationally consistent risk-based approach to dam safety.

“The Government has recently made a change to the thresholds to reduce the number of dams that need to be classified,” said Mr Gala.

It was important that specialist engineering resources were focussed on dams that represented the greatest risk to people and property downstream, and that owners of classifiable dams could meet their obligations under the regulations, he said.

Under the revised regulation, dams only need to be classified if they are four or more metres in height and store 20,000 or more cubic metres. Implementation timeframes for submitting documentation are not changing.

Dams that are one or more metres in height and store 40,000 or more cubic metres volume of water or other fluid, no longer need to be classified and are not impacted by the regulations.

Dam owners must provide their dam’s potential impact classification certificate to Council by 13 August 2024. Information and resources are available on Council’s website or MBIE’s building performance website and include a detailed guidance document and resources to help owners calculate the height and volume of their dam, to see if it is impacted by the regulations.

For more information visit: www.marlborough.govt.nz/services/ building-services/dam-safety or email damsafety@marlborough.govt.nz

Does your dam meet new regulations?