Nearly 1,000 dam and levee safety professionals are headed to Seattle in the upcoming days to network, share knowledge, and learn from industry leaders.

Organization: Association of State Dam Safety Officials

Conference: Dam Safety 2018

Venue: Washington State Convention Center

City: Seattle

Following a kickoff event at the Space Needle on Sunday evening, Dam Safety 2018 begins Monday morning with an opening general session. Speakers will mark the 90th anniversary of the St. Francis Dam failure—the second-greatest disaster in California history—and discuss what can still be learned from it today. Also on the agenda:

Plan ahead. Attendees will have new tools to plan their time onsite. The ASDSO Itinerary Planner will allow them to browse all sessions and presentations and set their agenda before they get to Seattle. They can also download their agenda and save it to their calendar.

Get on your soapbox. During this year’s Soapbox Session, Mark Baker, a dam and levee safety officer for the National Park Service, will explore whether the industry’s current use of technical practices and guidelines is working well or if improvements are needed. Audience members will also have an opportunity to contribute to the discussion.

Go out in the field. Attendees who want to extend their learning can sign up for a postconference field trip. Options include a visit to the Cedar River Watershed and Masonry Dam, which provides about 70 percent of the drinking water to 1.4 million people in the greater Seattle area, or to Mud Mountain Dam, a critical flood risk-management project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Check out Twitter (#DamSafety18) and Facebook for other meeting details.

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