Value of information in dam remediation decision-making

The process of improving the safety of existing dams involves design, cost, construction, and reliability considerations. Often, several possible remedial actions are available. For the purpose of selecting the optimal remedial action, complete knowledge about the pertinent parameters, i.e. those parameters affecting the decision, is needed. Unfortunately, such a complete knowledge is seldom available, as natural and parameter uncertainty is always present. Thus, a certain degree of risk is virtually unavoidable in any decision. This paper presents a methodological approach using decision theory, for deriving the optimal dam safety improvement measure. Of particular interest is the value of perfect information about specific parameters which affect the expected performance of different decisions. The computation of this value allows the allocation of resources for the enhancement of the expected outcome of the optimal remediation measure