JPS presently manages 15 dams located in various states to fulfill the department's role in providing adequate irrigation water, flood mitigation and silt retention. More dams are scheduled for implementation in the future to meet the ever increasing demands and social expectations of the public as the nation strives towards becoming a developed country by the year 2020.

A dam project though usually would involved high capital costs generally would have high social and financial returns. However, a dam failure often results in a catastrophe with considerable loss of life and property and therefore the structure has to be properly managed to ensure its integrity at all times. Realising the importance of the need to keep dams safe, efforts were subsequently initiated towards this and in May 1987 the Dam Monitoring Unit (now renamed to Dam Unit) was established in the JPS Research Branch (now non-existent) with the following objectives:

• to assist all JPS dam operators in monitoring the safety of dams
• to assist all JPS dam operators in safety inspections of dams
   

Main Activities

• Monitoring the safety of dams

• Safety inspections of dams

• Formulation of related procedures, standards and guidelines on dam safety

• Budget preparation