Canada is the world’s second biggest producer of hydroelectric power.  British Columbia, like Quebec, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Yukon, generates almost 90 % of its energy from renewable hydropower sources.  The Bennett Dam in British Columbia was, upon completion of construction in 1967, the largest embankment dam in the world.  Three dams (the Bennett, Mica, and Revelstoke dams) generate over half of the province’s electricity.  They represent an enormous investment by society-at-large and, like much of our public infrastructure, these embankment dams are aging, yielding a potential for water seeping from the reservoir to erode soil within the dam and its foundation.  Internal erosion is a dam safety risk that was not understood at the time of construction – it is now recognised to pose one of the greatest risks to dam safety.

The internal erosion research at UBC comprises laboratory testing, theoretical modeling, and field studies and is supported by BC Hydro and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.