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135A: Certifying engineer must notify regional authority and owner if dam dangerous
or “An engineer checking a dam must tell the local council and owner if they think the dam is dangerous.”

You could also call this:

“The person in charge of an area must quickly say yes or no to how a dam owner groups their dam.”

When you give a dam classification to your regional authority, they must decide if they approve it or not. They need to tell you their decision in writing as soon as they can.

The regional authority has two choices. They can either approve your dam classification or refuse to approve it.

There’s only one reason the regional authority can refuse to approve your classification. They can refuse if they believe the engineer who gave you the certificate for your classification isn’t a recognised engineer. They need to have good reasons to believe this.

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Next up: 137: Dam classification provided to regional authority by accredited dam owner deemed to have been approved

or “A trusted dam owner can classify their dam without needing extra checks, and the local council will accept it right away.”

Part 2 Building
Safety of dams: Classification of dams

136Regional authority must decide whether to approve or refuse dam classification

  1. A regional authority must, as soon as practicable after receiving a classification given by an owner to a dam under section 135, give written notice to the owner as to whether the regional authority—

  2. approves the classification; or
    1. refuses to approve the classification.
      1. A regional authority may refuse to approve a classification only if the regional authority is satisfied, on reasonable grounds, that the engineer who provided the certificate referred to in section 135(1)(b) is not a recognised engineer.