Nowadays, especially after the appearance of the global warming effects, water is becoming less and less available. Here appears the role of water resources engineering. That is; finding the mean through which we can collect water. One alternative for doing so is the storing of water behind dams. This is why this report will focus on damsâ issues. This report is divided in two sections. The first section deals with the most common types of dams, the forces applied on them, the modes of failure of these structures, the environmental effects on the stream, the decommissioning and other technical matters. The second part focuses on the different methods used in order to estimate or predict the breach of the dams especially for the embankment type. These methods are applied to the case of the Timberlake Dam in Lynchburg, VA that failed in 1995 and was rebuilt in 2000. / Master of Science