Dam and Dike Monitor in Vietnam

The Dam Dike Monitor provides better information (in near-real time) for dam and dike maintenance and flood management. An internet portal will display for the dams and dikes under monitoring the following parameters:

• Indication of weak dam and dikes (probability of breaches)
• Prediction of  flood effects and impacts: damage and loss of lives due to weak dam and dikes
• Planning for intensifying maintenance or undertake structural measures on high-risk locations (based on a risk assessment; probability x effects)
• Information dissemination for flood disaster management: flood propagation over time, availability roads, evacuation routes, vulnerable objects such as hospitals

As the Dam and Dike Monitor is an internet-based product, it does not demand a highly developed infrastructure in terms of hardware and software. It is therefore applicable in countries with poor infrastructure such as Vietnam. The internet portal can be adopted in flood management centers in large cities or reservoir control rooms on small rural dams. It can even be used on other devices, such as iPads. The information portal can also be expanded to other fields of water management, such as drought management, water demand and supply management and water quality management.

The Large Scale Map Services (LSMS) uses space assets to create maps services regarding flood risks on a regional scale, for national or provincial government agencies. Map services are provided for a region with multiple dams or dikes, for example like a province. Therefore, the end-users will be governmental agencies that are responsible for this region. Also, the national government could be an end-user, like the Dike Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). LSMS will provide the following information, on a regional or national scale:

• Deformation maps;
• Elevation maps;
• Land use maps;
• Topographical maps;
• Flood scenario maps;
• Potential damages and casualties maps.

The Risk Assessment and Monitoring Services (RAMS) are addressing the Dike Department of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) as a primary customer but consider also other customers as private dam owners. RAMS uses LSMS as an initial process block to determine the damage impact in case of a dike or dam failures. LSMS is an integral part of RAMS to determine potential regional locations for further monitoring. In fact, RAMS offers tailor-made monitoring solutions to support the Dike Department of MARD in Vietnam on the long-term maintenance of their water infrastructure.