Dams (water and tailings) are a necessary part of every water and mining operation and heavily regulated by government authorities as well as scrutinised by insurance agencies with increased reporting and risk management requirements. Industry has been slow to change how it collects information and integrates the different information sources to improve the efficiency of monitoring dams. Information is isolated in data silos, either as hardcopies, PDF, excel, or bespoke systems which need to be manually collected and integrated to cover reporting requirements.​

Rohan Koenig and Rob Longey from GHD have built a capability to transform traditional work processes to be digitally driven including real time dam wall monitoring and drone surveillance. This includes:​

- Capture of visual records​
- Data integration – design and construction ​
- Operational management – inspection records, contents monitoring, discharge​
- Automation – sensor and measurement data real time monitoring​
- Safety – alarms and change monitoring​
- Reporting – operations, board and regulators