So much to celebrate!

The Annual Awards Gala held on October 18 at historic Pier 21 in Halifax recognized leaders in the Canadian dam industry.  CDA would like to extend its congratulations to the following individuals and organizations for their contributions and achievements:

Mr. Rigbey, director of dam safety for BC Hydro, received CDA’s highest honour last month. This award recognizes members who have distinguished themselves through significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge and practices related to dams in Canada.  Mr. Rigbey has become one of Canada’s most prominent practitioners in the domain of risk-informed dam safety decision-making and implementation.  He has worked to merge the principles and the practices of risk-informed dam safety management in implementing some major dam safety improvement decisions that serve as a guide to other owners.

Receiving the Peter Halliday Award for Service was Gilles Bourgeois. Mr. Bourgeois spent 10 consecutive years on CDA’s Board of Directors, serving as director from Quebec; Vice President, President and Past President. In addition, he served on conference committees in 2006 and 2013 acting as co-chair in 2013, and was also part of the Dam Safety Reviews Working Group.

Also recognized by CDA at the Awards Ceremony was Garry Poole of Newfoundland and Labrador, appointed as a Life Member.  Mr. Poole had an extensive career with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro / Nalcor Energy.

Ms. Zabolotnii is enrolled at the University of Alberta PhD Program where she has demonstrated exceptional academic skills. In her time there she’s had the opportunity to work with Dr. Nobert Morgenstern in the organization of a dam design course. Based on the Mount Polley tailings facility failure in BC, her research involves using 3-D slope failure analysis to determine a better understanding of the failure, and using that knowledge to get a better picture of the risks tied to the more than 4,000 active dams in British Columbia.  

On an annual basis, CDA awards two scholarships to full-time post-graduate students attending a Canadian university or college whose program of study focuses on dam safety and/or the management of dams. The scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic excellence and the relevance of the research project to the stated objective, as well as leadership and community involvement. The Gary Salmon Memorial Scholarship was established in 2009 in honour of the late Gary Salmon, P. Eng. and is awarded to the top ranked applicant.  The CDA Research Scholarship was established in 2012 and is awarded to the second-ranked applicant.

Mr. Renaud is a PhD student at the Polytechnique Montreal. His thesis "Development and validation of numerical models at multiple scales to evaluate the shear strength of an unbound dam foundation interface" opens up the possibility to create new tools in stability analyzes related to the cohesion along the rock-dam contact for existing concrete dams.

The Published Paper Award was presented to John Perdikaris and Steve Nash for their paper presented at the 2015 CDA Conference entitled Responding to Major Catastrophic Events for Dam Owners. The paper discusses the processes and procedures for dam owners in response to major catastrophic events, with the relationship of disaster management to national security as its primary focus. The paper provided a new perspective for many dam owners and used recent case studies to share lessons learned and improve the knowledge and response capabilities of dam owners.

The Corporate Award went to Parks Canada.  Inspired by the work of CDA but customized to its unique needs, Parks Canada created a dam safety directive for its 231 dams.  The work of Parks Canada built upon CDA resources and in doing so created a comprehensive dam safety program.  This represents a singular application and extension of CDA’s work, and has resulted in a higher level of confidence in the safety and management of the dams under its care.