Dam safety is a perpetual issue everywhere, when communities are located downstream of dams. This paper reflects experiences of the related practice and considerations in Germany. The probability of dam failure will be considered from a theoretical as well as from an empirical point of view. Information necessary in drawing up special hazard and risk maps are described and evaluated. For small dams further considerations to simplify the analysis procedure will be presented.

An earth dam and a dike is one kind of hydraulic construction, which is built with highly compacted earth and can be used for the purpose of containing water in a reservoir to secure the water supply, and in flood control. Earth dam and dike can be a safety issue, as it can experience catastrophic destruction due to the slope failure caused by various factors, such as construction materials, vegetation, atmospheric conditions and so on. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of the saturation degree (or water content) on the stability of earth dam and dikes under the consideration of precipitation and vegetation with the program PCSiWaPro® (developed at the Technical University of Dresden, Institute of Waste Management and Contaminated Site Treatment). The preliminary tests on a physical model have shown that the security and stability has been already severely compromised in the partially saturated region, i.e. the area above the seepage line was in great danger and it came quickly to landslides on the air side. Before the stability analysis could be done for those unsaturated zones, water flow processes and water saturation in the saturated and partially saturated soil area were simulated using the simulation program PCSiWaPro® under transient boundary conditions. The integration of a weather generator into PCSiWaPro® allows a transient water flow calculation with respect to atmospheric conditions (precipitation, evaporation, daily mean temperature and sunshine duration) and removal of water by plant roots and leaves. Finally, with the Program PCSiWaPro® and Gmsh, a 2D dynamic model of water content distribution in the earth dam could be built, incorporating information of not only climate parameters and vegetation but also geometry, soil properties, geohydraulic conditions and time-dependent boundary conditions. The simulation results of several scenarios both in the laboratory and in the field of China and Germany clearly demonstrated that the accordance between measured values and calculated values for water content using the simulation program PCSiWaPro® was very good. In addition, two kinds of stability analysis models (the Infinite Slope Model and the BISHOP’S Model, one kind of the limit equilibrium method), which were both developed from the old Mohr-Coulomb Model, have been improved with the additional consideration of root reinforcement in the upper layer of the slope and soil water in the earth slope. The Infinite Slope Model has been proved to be mainly applied for the surficial landslide; while the BISHOP’S Model is more responsible for the deeper slip landslide forecasting. Then based on the PCSiWaPro® simulation result of water content in the unsaturated slope in the earth bodies from two study sites, Fs (safety of factor) calculation for those earth slopes was derived providing a sufficient forecasting system for the slope-failure-flood. The results have been compared with the calculated Fs values from the old models (without consideration of the influence of water content change on the slope stability) to study how significantly water content increased the risk of slope landslides.

The heavy rainfall event in August 2002 in Saxony/Germany caused the break of a flood retaining basin in a valley of the Erzgebirge Mountains. The rainfall event with ists hyrologic characteristics and dam break event were analysed and an outflow hydrograph was determing. The propagation of the dam break flood wave in the valleyas of the Briesnitz and Müglitz Rivers has been simulated. Calculated values were compared with some observed data.

In August 2002 a heavy rainfall event lasting more than two days occurred in Saxony/Germany. This led to extreme flash floods and extreme high water levels in some left tributaries of the river Elbe in the Ore mountains (Erzgebirge). Much damage occurred: houses and bridges were destroyed, much sediment moved and a dam broke. About 20 people died. Immediately after the event a mapping exercise of all damages arising from the flood was compiled. The hydrologic and hydraulic processes during the flood were analysed. This analysis included the genesis of the flood, the flood routing, the erosion, plain bed load transport and the sedimentation. The analysis of such an extraordinary event can help us learn how to prevent flood damages in the future.

The statistical evaluation of flood records requires long data series to extrapolate reliable peak discharges and related recurrence intervals. Often the records are extended with historical information concerning the water level. As the distribution functions are usually fitted to the discharge values historic stage-discharge-relations must be found to convert these values. Regarding the Elbe river at the Dresden gauge the history of a water course and its morphology is investigated. Using the former flow cross sections water profile calculations are carried out yielding different stage-discharge-curves for each historic period. Checking the flood stages since 1501 A.D. and the related peak discharges, resulted in reduced discharge values. The new peak discharge values allow an update of the flood records as well as recurrence periods and lead to the result that e.g. the 2002 flood seems to have a recurrence period three times longer than it was assumed up to now.

In diesem Beitrag wird das am Leibniz-Institut für ökologische Raumentwicklung eV. (IÖR) entwickelte Informations- und Entscheidungsunterstützungssystem „Weißeritz-Info“ vorgestellt, das der Aufbereitung und Bereitstellung von Informationen zum Hochwasserrisikomanagement für das Einzugsgebiet der Weißeritz dient. Zielgruppen sind sowohl Bürger und Landnutzer als auch Entscheidungsträger in Kommunen, Behörden und Verbänden. Erstellt wurde das WebGIS-basierte System für die Initiative „Weißeritz-Regio“, einem Verbund von 26 Institutionen, die seit Ende 2003 auf informeller Basis zusammenarbeiten, um die Hochwasservorsorge im Flussgebiet zu verbessern.

Die Broschüre vermittelt anschaulich, was von Gemeinden, Grundeigentümern, Bewirtschaftern und anderen Betroffenen auf lokaler Ebene unternommen werden kann, um Schäden durch Hochwasser vorzubeugen. Diskutiert werden Maßnahmen wie Flächenentsiegelung, angepasste Landwirtschaft, der Ausbau von Rückhaltebecken oder verbesserte Teichnutzungen. Erfolgreiche Beispiele aus der Praxis runden die Handlungsempfehlungen ab.