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Entura’s dams, geotech and water professionals share insights at NZSOLD/ANCOLD conference

27 November, 2025

A strong contingent of Entura’s dams, geotechnical and water specialists has recently returned from the 2025 combined conference of the New Zealand Society on Large Dams (NZSOLD) and Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD), held in Ōtautahi Christchurch, New Zealand.

Over 3 days in November, delegates gathered to share knowledge, challenge thinking, connect with peers and strengthen industry networks.

Collaborating on an embankment dam upgrade

In the ‘Maintenance, rehabilitation and upgrading of existing dams’ session, Senior Engineer Jaretha Lombaard presented ‘Does my berm look big in this? Foundation considerations for Swedish berm design in an embankment dam upgrade’, highlighting Entura’s recent work on a dam upgrade in Tasmania.

Entura’s involvement with this earth and rockfill embankment dam began in 2022 and has recently concluded. Our services included flood studies and hydrological risk assessment, geotechnical investigations and detailed design.

Jaretha noted that collaboration was central to the success of the project and to preparing the paper, which was coauthored with colleagues Paul Southcott (Senior Principal, Dams & Headworks), Sally Fracalossi (Senior Engineer) and Matt Ferguson (Senior Geologist).

Crotty Dam’s innovative design stands the test of time

Richard Herweynen, Entura’s Technical Director Water, presented ‘Crotty Dam’s Innovative Spillway – 30 Years of Performance Providing Valuable Precedent Data to the Industry’ in the ‘Designing and building for the future’ session. This paper, coauthored with Paul Southcott (Senior Principal Dams & Headworks, Entura) and Neil Smith (Principal Engineer Civil Assets, Hydro Tasmania), demonstrated the long-term performance and value of a novel dam spillway design.

“The Crotty Dam project was the first time that a spillway was incorporated into the body of a concrete-faced rockfill dam, with the crest and chute over the downstream rockfill face,” said Richard.

“The design was unprecedented, but was based on extensive research, investigation and data, and has proven itself over many years, including through significant spill events. It’s important to share this data with our professional community to build a body of precedent, as well as guidance and limitations, that dams professionals can draw on in future projects.”

Latrobe flood mitigation builds resilience

In the ‘Flood hazard, flood adaptation and climate resilience’ session, Entura’s Senior Principal Water, Colin Terry, presented ‘Latrobe Tasmania levee: lessons for successful flood mitigation’.

His paper outlined Entura’s role in designing and delivering a flood mitigation for the town of Latrobe in Tasmania, which suffered significant impacts from a flood in 2016. Entura’s involvement over 8 years encompassed flood studies, preliminary design, surveying, geotechnical investigations, environmental assessments, approvals support and detailed design.

“Our expertise in flood management and civil design, coupled with flexibility and positive partnerships, delivered a successful solution: a levee and diversion culvert that strengthens Latrobe’s resilience and will reduce risk to property and lives,” said Colin.

Failure modes key to instrumentation solutions

In the conference’s ‘quickfire presentations’, Graduate Engineer Diego Real Diaz shared ‘Staged Surveillance and Instrumentation Upgrades for Three Embankment Dams Using a Risk-Based, Failure-Mode-Focused Approach’.

Commenting on his first conference presentation, Diego said: “Even when dams are of a similar type, a uniform one-size-fits-all instrumentation upgrade approach is not necessarily the best solution. We definitely need to understand the controlling failure modes to propose upgrades that provide the best solution for our clients.”

Sharing knowledge, building connections

Entura’s Senior Principal Dams & Headworks, Paul Southcott (who is also convening the ANCOLD working group on dam instrumentation and monitoring guidelines), said he was impressed by the technical excellence and thought-provoking nature of this year’s presentations.

“That’s the key thing with a conference like this,” said Paul. “It is so important to really get people thinking and inspired by the projects discussed.”

Entura’s Managing Director, Amanda Ashworth, said she is proud that Entura played such an active role, including sponsoring 3 technical sessions.

“It’s fantastic to see our specialists contributing to important discussions about dam design, instrumentation and flood mitigation. This annual conference is vital for strengthening connection and capability, promoting best practice and fostering innovation across the dams sector. This is what will drive resilient dams and water infrastructure that can serve communities safely for generations, whatever the climate future holds.

“We’re thrilled that the next ANCOLD conference will be held in Tasmania, and we look forward to connecting with our industry peers and valued clients again then.”