Environmental risk assessment of a dam during construction phase

The present study was conducted to assess the possible risks induced by construction of Gavi Dam in Ilam Province; western part of Iran, using MIKE-11 model and technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution. For this purpose, vulnerable zone of the dam site against the flooding risk of Gavi River was calculated for different return periods. The flooding zones were stimulated by MIKE-11 model. In order to check whether or not the dam construction could affect the quality of the Gavi River, the physicochemical quality of the river water was also tested. Afterwards, a questionnaire was prepared containing an inventory of possible risks supposed to be induced by construction of Gavi Dam. The questionnaires were placed at disposal of experts to score the items based on their importance. The questionnaires were then analyzed using SPSS Software, version 16. According to which, a total number of 12 risk factors were identified. The dam construction risks were qualitatively assessed by preliminary hazard analysis. Based on the results, 3 of 12 identified risks were recognized unacceptable. The shortlisted risks were prioritized at final step using technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution. “Habitat fragmentation” with a weight of 0.3002, “water pollution” with a weight of 0.295, and “impacts on aquatics” with a weight of 0.293 were identified as three top priority flooding risks. Among the most important corrective measures for mitigation of the risks at construction phase can be pointed to “restoration of the land cover”, “conservation of areas surrounding the dam as a new wildlife habitat”, “prevention of water contamination”, and “conservation of fish spawning sites”.