RISK MANAGEMENT CENTER-BESTFIT
For risk assessment of dams and levees, the probability of failure is always conditional on the magnitude of hydrologic loading or the mass of water stored in the environment. Therefore, it is imperative to determine credible estimates of exceedance probabilities of extreme floods that could lead to failure. Design floods for most dams and levees have return periods of 1:100 or less frequent. High hazard dams are designed to pass the Probable Maximum Flood, which typically has a return period of 1:10,000 or less frequent.
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