06/27/2024 – 22:23
The National Water and Sanitation Agency (ANA), linked to the Ministry of Integration and Regional Development (MIDR), launched this Thursday (27) the 2023 edition of the Dam Safety Report (RSB). The document, presented in a broadcast on social media, accounts for a total of 25,943 structures across the country. This is an 8% increase compared to the 2022 report.
Of this total, 229 deserve a closer look at the issue. Among these dams highlighted in the report, 52 have irrigation as their main use, 44 for containing mining tailings; and 28, for human supply. The data gathered by ANA also shows that 44% of the 229 structures have already recorded an accident or incident.
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In 2023 alone, there were 50 occurrences.
“There were no records of human losses last year, but it is still necessary to monitor and better manage these structures. The report contains information about these occurrences and what measures were taken”, explains Aline Costa, who is part of ANA’s dam safety regulation coordination.
Use of dams
Developing the RSB is an ANA responsibility established by Federal Law 12,334/2010, which is known as the National Dam Safety Policy (PNSB). The report provides data on dams built for the most varied uses: human supply, flow regulation, animal watering, irrigation, aquaculture, industrial use, landscaping, recreation, containment of mining waste, containment of industrial waste and hydroelectric plants.
The majority of the 25,943 registered dams are related to agriculture and livestock farming: 9,615 are primarily used for irrigation and 5,433 for animal watering (places to provide water to animals, such as ponds). These two categories account for 58% of the total. In turn, hydroelectric plants represent only 5% and mining dams 3.6%.
When considering storage, there is a different scenario. The 25,943 dams in the country can accumulate a total of 645.5 billion cubic meters. Hydroelectric plants account for 88.7% of this volume and human supply for 6.4%. The other categories are below 2%.
Security
Of the 25,943 dams included in the Snisb and registered in the RSB, 5,916 meet at least one of the criteria for meeting the safety standards provided for in Federal Law 12,334/2010. They are: massif height greater than 15 meters; volume greater than 3 million cubic meters; storage of hazardous waste; high risk category found by a supervisory body in assessments of the integrity of the structure; or even medium or high associated potential damage, which means that there would be great human, environmental or socioeconomic losses in the event of a possible tragedy.
The ANA report, however, draws attention to the fact that 13,865 structures do not have sufficient information in their records, which means that it is not possible to say whether or not they meet one of these criteria. On the other hand, 6,192 dams have already been checked, having been certified as non-compliant.
Among the 5,916 structures that are included, 1,591 have high or medium potential damage associated with them and are classified in the high risk category. Aline Costa draws attention to the need for entrepreneurs to act to improve the integrity of structures.
“Even a dam with high or medium potential associated damage, if it is in the low risk category with the integrity of the structure preserved and with the safety plans updated, this brings a positive outlook”, he explains.
Challenges
According to the RSB information completeness index, the records are excellent or good in 39% of the dams and average in 1%. On the other hand, there are 60% in which the information is considered low or minimal. This scenario indicates that one of the challenges to be faced involves data input. In the case of dams with high potential associated damage, only 28% of them have a dam safety plan entered into the system. The existence of the document is mandatory for these structures.
“It is clear that there is still a long way to go for entrepreneurs,” says Aline.
With the aim of promoting reflections to improve governance and increase security, the RSB points out guidelines for the actions of not only entrepreneurs, but also the 32 supervisory bodies. The document draws attention, for example, that 28 of them do not meet the minimum number of recommended personnel. Furthermore, it indicates that a high number of professionals responsible for inspection activities do not have exclusive dedication and perform functions on other fronts.
The report is produced based on information contained in the National Dam Safety Information System (Snisb), in which the structure registry must be fed by the responsible developers and the inspection agencies. In addition to indicating those that require greater attention, the RSB provides data segmented by region and type of dam. It also includes information on accidents and incidents.
Due to the comprehensiveness of the information, the RSB is a reference for the implementation of public policies. The New Growth Acceleration Program (New PAC), launched in 2023, provided, for example, R$300 million for the safety of dams under the responsibility of the federal Public Power and investments will be directed considering the data in the report.
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