Person:
Ueda, Satoru

Water Global Practice of the World Bank
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DAM SAFETY, WATER RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, WATER RESOUCE MANAGMENT
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Water Global Practice of the World Bank
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Last updated: January 31, 2023
Biography
Mr. Satoru Ueda is Lead Dam Specialist with the World Bank Group. He has more than thirty years of global experience in planning, design, construction, operation & maintenance, and safety review of large dams as well as water resources development and management. Since 2013 he has been the World Bank’s focal point for dam safety, providing technical support and quality control for more than 70 projects involving large dams in more than 50 countries. Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked for the River Bureau of the Ministry of Construction, Government of Japan, Dam Department of Public Works Research Institute, and Japan Dam Engineering Center for designing and supervising multipurpose dam projects as well as safety review of more than thirty dams. Satoru has a Masters Degree from the University of Tokyo and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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2020 - 20253
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Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Laying the Foundations: A Global Analysis of Regulatory Frameworks for the Safety of Dams and Downstream Communities
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020-11-19) Boj García, Esteban; Wishart, Marcus J.; Ueda, Satoru; Pisaniello, John D.; Tingey-Holyoak, Joanne L.; Lyon, Kimberly N.
    Dam safety is central to public protection and economic security. However, the world has an aging portfolio of large dams, with growing downstream populations and rapid urbanization placing dual pressures on these important infrastructures to provide increased services and to do it more safely. To meet the challenge, countries need legal and institutional frameworks that are fit for purpose and can ensure the safety of dams. Such frameworks enable dams to provide water supplies to meet domestic and industrial demands, support power generation, improve food security, and bolster resilience to floods and droughts, helping to build safer communities. Laying the Foundations: A Global Analysis of Regulatory Frameworks for the Safety of Dams and Downstream Communities is a systematic review of dam regimes from a diverse set of 51 countries with varying economic, political, and cultural circumstances. These case studies inform a continuum of legal, institutional, technical, and financial options for sustainable dam safety assurance. The findings from the comparative analysis will inform decisionmakers about the merits of different options for dam safety and help them systematically develop the most effective approaches for the country context. By identifying the essential elements of good practices guided by portfolio characteristics, this tool can help identify gaps in existing legal, institutional, technical, and financial frameworks to enhance the regulatory regime for ensuring the safety of dams and downstream communities.
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    Laying the Foundations: Decision Support Tool to Inform and Assess Regulatory Frameworks for Dam Safety Assurance
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022) Boj Garcia, Esteban; Wishart, Marcus J.; Ueda, Satoru; Pisaniello, John; Tingey-Holyoak, Joanne L.; Lyon, Kimberly N.
    The foundation for effective dam safety assurance is an appropriate and well-designed regulatory framework that captures the legal, institutional, technical, and financial elements in the reality of a particular jurisdiction. Aging infrastructure, diminishing returns on new projects, changes in climate and weather patterns, and shifting trends of human settlement require ever-increasing attention in the effort to ensure the safety of dams and downstream communities. Establishing and maintaining a regulatory framework that is fit for purpose is, therefore, necessary for assuring the quality of dam design, construction, and operations. The framework also ensures that safety measures are reflective of the risks inherent in managing these structures and the context in which they are developed. Such frameworks need to be developed as part of a holistic strategy for water management that is integrated in basin and regional planning processes. The purpose of this Decision Support Tool is to guide countries and jurisdictions through various considerations in designing and updating their regulatory environment for dam safety assurance. This Decision Support Tool aggregates information derived from a comprehensive review and comparative analysis of regulatory frameworks in 51 countries. It presents a typology of situations that correlate with regulatory framework options along a continuum from minimum to maximum assurance of safety. It then presents hypothetical examples of how the Decision Support Tool can be used by countries and jurisdictions to assess their own situations and which regulatory options may be appropriate to consider for improving dam safety assurance.
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    Publication
    Laying the Foundations: Essential Elements for Assuring the Safety of Dams and Downstream Communities
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-07-16) Boj Garcia, Esteban; Wishart, Marcus J.; Ueda, Satoru; Pisaniello, John D.; Tingey-Holyoak, Joanne L.; Lyon, Kimberly N.
    Assuring the safety of dams is central to protecting downstream communities, infrastructure, and the environment. Dam safety is also important for securing water for productive purposes and sustaining economic development. With a global portfolio of more than 58,000 large dams, issues associated with the safety of dams and downstream communities are becoming increasingly important, particularly given aging infrastructure, increasing downstream populations, shifting demographics, and changes in climate and weather patterns. The foundation for effective dam safety assurance is an appropriate and well-designed regulatory framework that captures the legal, institutional, technical, and financial elements in the reality of a particular jurisdiction. Establishing and maintaining a regulatory framework that is fit for purpose is, therefore, necessary for ensuring the quality of dam design, construction, and operation and maintenance. The framework also ensures that safety measures are reflective of the risks inherent in managing these structures and the context in which they are developed. Such frameworks need to be developed as part of a holistic strategy for water management that is integrated in basin and regional planning processes. The objective of this policy note is to provide guidance to policy makers and practitioners on the essential elements for establishing regulatory regimes for assuring the safety of dams and downstream communities.