Dam safety effects due to human alteration of extreme precipitation

Very little is known about the vulnerability of dams and reservoirs to man‐made alteration of extreme precipitation and floods as we step into the 21st century. This is because conventional dam and reservoir design over the last century has been “one‐way” with no acknowledgment of the possible feedback mechanisms affecting the regional water cycle. Although the notion that an impoundment could be built to increase rainfall was suggested more than 60 years ago, dam design protocol in civil engineering continues to assume as “static” the statistical parameters of a low exceedance probability precipitation event during the lifespan of the dam. It is time for us to change our perceptions and embrace a hydrometeorological approach to dam design and operations.