The Otago Regional Council (ORC) has adopted its updated dam policy on how it deals with potentially dangerous, earthquake-prone or flood-prone dams in Otago.

Acting general manager regulatory Joanna Gilroy said the purpose of the updated policy is to continue to have a framework in place to support the reduction of the risk of catastrophic failure from a potentially dangerous dam, earthquake-prone dam, or a flood-prone dam where needed.

ORC’s previous policy on dangerous dams was introduced in 2011 and this policy has now been updated to bring it into line with other policies around the country and national legislation.”

The ORC policy is required under the Building Act.  

“The updated policy only applies to dams which are believed to be, or are, dangerous, flood-prone or earthquake-prone under the Building Act, so it’s highly unlikely to impact on the general public or the majority of dam owners,” she said.

It was voted for unanimously by the 12 councillors last Wednesday at a full council meeting in Dunedin. 

The policy was publicly notified and went through a full hearing process under the Local Government Act 2002.

Joanna thanked all the people who made the time and effort to make submissions between November 13 and December 15 and attended the subsequent hearings.

“We’re really pleased with the engagement from the community, which was very valuable to the hearing panel for the policy,” she said.

The updated ORC policy is separate to the new national level dam regulations, which came into effect earlier this month.

“The updated policy outlines requirements for dam owners, engineers engaged by owners and for council. It’s really important that dam owners notify council if they believe their dam is dangerous, earthquake-prone or flood-prone.

“This will allow the dam owner and council to work together to put plans in place to reduce or remove the risk of harm to people, property and the environment in a timely and effective manner,” she said.

 The separate new Government regulations on dams came into effect on May 13, outlining how dams, which met a certain height and capacity need to be classified.

The owners of these dams need to arrange and have this classification submitted to ORC no later than 13 August 2024.

ORC’s dam register shows that in Otago 98 dams will be affected by the new regulations, with an extra 34 dams close to exceeding the threshold, requiring further investigation.

Under the new regulations, developed to provide a nationally consistent risk-based approach to dam safety, dams need to be classified if they are four metres or more in height and store 20,000 or more cubic metres of water, or other fluid.

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