The NSW Government has appointed internationally recognised water specialist Dr Amit Chanan CF to the Dam Safety NSW Board, bringing decades of engineering, governance and flood-management experience to the state’s dam oversight body.
Dr Chanan, whose 2013 Fellowship examined best-practice flood operating procedures for major gated dams across the United States, Canada and Europe, has long advocated for modern, risk-based approaches to flood preparedness. His study tour included visits to Folsom Dam, Hoover Dam, the Missouri River Basin, the Grand River Conservation Authority and the British Dam Society.
Key lessons from his work emphasised separating flood-management and water-resource (conservation) functions to ensure clear accountability, and recognising growing community expectations for dams to play a wider role in integrated flood-management strategies.
Dr Chanan currently serves as Senior Water Industry Advisor at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), where he leads technical due diligence for global water and wastewater infrastructure financing. In 2025 alone, he has advised on projects in India, South Africa, Brazil, Indonesia, Uzbekistan and the Philippines.
His career spans major leadership roles, including Chief Executive Officer of the Water Authority of Fiji, where he oversaw delivery of the transformative Viria Water Treatment Plant—one of the largest water infrastructure projects in the South Pacific—now supplying clean water to about 360,000 people from Suva to Nausori. He also led the development of Fiji’s first National Water Sector Strategy 2050, an $8.5 billion roadmap for climate-resilient water and sanitation services.
In January 2025, fijivillage reported that Chanan would not seek another term as Water Authority CEO as his contract neared completion. The organisation’s chair, Ratu Savenaca Seniloli, praised Chanan’s leadership, commitment to staff culture and focus on long-term infrastructure reform during his tenure.
Before his Fiji appointment, Chanan held senior roles in Australia, including Director of City Projects and Property at the City of Sydney—where he led delivery of major urban infrastructure such as the six-star Green Square redevelopment—and Chief Operating Officer at NSW State Water Corporation, responsible for some of the state’s largest multi-purpose dams.
A Fellow of Engineers Australia, Chanan holds a PhD in Engineering and is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology Sydney. He also chairs the International Water Association’s Specialist Group on Water Security and Safety Management.
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