Emergency Exercises: Planning, Design, Implementation And Lessons Learned

5th Annual technical webinar series on dam safety practices and technologies. In this series, professionals will present technical information and case studies on emerging technologies and best practices relevant to embankments dams and the Alberta/prairie context.

Emergency exercises are an important part of an emergency management system for dams and canals. Exercises provide firsthand, practical experience to personnel responsible for managing dam emergencies and enable controlled testing of emergency protocols and procedures. Emergency exercises require an understanding of the local regulatory and emergency planning frameworks, the potential failure modes, and the potential impacts of a dam breach. Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation (AGI) owns and operates 51 significant to extreme consequence dams and is working to fully integrate regular emergency exercises into their dam safety management program. This webinar will provide an overview of the current regulatory framework for emergency management in Alberta and will share AGI’s experience and lessons learned from two recent emergency exercises.

David North, CET, Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation

Sr. Infrastructure Technologist

Mr. North is a Senior Infrastructure Technologist working with the Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation – Water Infrastructure and Operations Branch (WIOB) for the past eight years. He is the co-chair of the Branch Dam Safety Emergency Preparedness Committee, which is responsible for the oversight of the Emergency Management program for a portfolio of 72 provincially owned and operated dams across Alberta. Mr. North is also responsible for the application of the emergency management, public safety, and maintenance programs for a portfolio 43 dams and 250 kilometres of canals in the southern part of the province. Before his work with WIOB, Mr. North spent ten years in consulting engineering, mostly working in the irrigation and water resources sectors.

Brad Andres, Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation

Director - Emergency Management

Brad spent 20 years as an emergency manager in the Alberta provincial government, with his most recent role being the Director of Agriculture and Irrigation’s emergency management team. The emergency management team works with subject matter experts in each of the functional areas to develop response plans for the agriculture sector (crop pest, animal disease and foodborne illness responses) in addition to establishing relationships with a wide group of stakeholders including all levels of government and many agriculture industry groups. The Emergency Management Team is responsible for the coordination and delivery of Incident Command System courses for department staff (2 - 4 courses per year) as well as delivering at least one table-top or functional exercise for each of the response branches.

Rick Friedl

Mr. Rick Friedl’s 38-year career with Alberta Environment’s Water Infrastructure and Operations Branch, was dedicated to the safe and reliable operation, maintenance, and surveillance of Provincially-owned water management projects including several extreme consequence dams within his portfolio. As Regional Director, Rick lead a diverse group of technical and professional staff responsible for over 4 billion dollars of water infrastructure projects from the Bow River basin to the Northern Alberta border. Over the course of his career Rick contributed to the development and implementation of Dam Safety guidelines, policies, and frameworks related to the safe and efficient operation, maintenance, and surveillance of Provincially and privately-owned water management projects in Alberta, as well as Emergency Management processes at the Provincial and National levels. Rick currently serves as a subject matter expert on the Dam Safety Review Board for the Springbank Off-stream Reservoir Project currently under construction in Southern Alberta.

AGI, in partnership with the CDA, presents the 2025-2026 Technical Webinar Series

Emergency Exercises: Planning, Design, Implementation And Lessons Learned

AGI, in partnership with the CDA, presents the

2025-2026 Technical Webinar Series