One Dam Thing After Another

About the talk

Nigel will describe the Columbia and Colorado river systems and the dam projects that have been built on them over the past hundred years, including those on the Canadian part of the Columbia. Dams have had major downstream effects on the rivers, as well as benefits from flood control, irrigation water and hydro power generation… He is fascinated by the contrasting developments on the major North American rivers. Should there be a dam on the Fraser, for example? If not, how will we respond to the inevitable massive flood on that river when it occurs?

About the speaker

Nigel and I have been close friends since we worked together in 1986 opposing a waste facility in 70 Mile House — I as the lawyer and he as the soils engineer. He is a formidable expert witness and an engaging speaker. Nigel emigrated from Britain to Vancouver in 1965, hired out of the UK as a junior engineer to work on the design of the Mica Dam on the Columbia River — at the time the highest earth dam in the world — part of Canada's commitments under the newly signed Columbia River Treaty. He has since been involved in the design of numerous dam schemes including mine tailings dams, served on the review board for Teck's Highland Valley dams, and published papers including chapters in Debris Flow Hazards and Related Phenomena and Landslides and Human Lives. He is also an expert on bentonitic clays and has studied methods of cement production that would dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions.