Dams Worldwide Are at Risk of Catastrophic Failure
Dams Worldwide Are at Risk of Catastrophic Failure
Here’s why disasters like Libya’s dam collapses happen and how to prevent them
Regular maintenance, reinforcements and retrofitting can extend a dam’s safe operation well past 100 years and bring a structure up to current standards, Perera and Shannon say. But many dams don’t receive routine repairs and are not aging gracefully. Just making the recommended fixes to most U.S. dams would cost an estimated $157.5 billion dollars, according to a 2023 report from the Association of State Dam Safety Officials.
So much of today’s news feels like we’re frogs in a pot of boiling water.
It’s because infrastructure spending, especially repairs or preventative maintenance, isn’t a vote getter. It’s not flashy, so it doesn’t get the focus it should.
By the time our representatives have funded their pet projects, and their donors projects, they aren’t going to award a large chunk that’s needed for these repairs.
That is.. until there is a catastrophe close to home. Unfortunately that’s when we’ll likely see action. But it’ll be myopic, and focus only on one specific thing, leaving another unattended.
Another flaw of "representative" TV personality politics
And how much would all of them breaking cost?
At least $157.6 billion.
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So stop building towns in flood plains.
People historically commune near flood plains.
Floods are a good thing for soil fertility. Not much else.
Farms often are on land that is likely to see small amounts of flooding regularly.
Farms feed people. People like to be fed.
Also water is pretty crucial.
Just slowly zoom into the Nile river somewhere well south of Egypt, and you'll see there is more or less NOTHING that is not within 10 miles of the river.
The problem is the massive flooding way past the typical riverbed because of the massive amount of water waiting to be released. If they slowly emptied the lake it would be very different where the water line goes.
A good chunk of the Midwest would be wiped out if the dams along the Missouri failed in sequence. There's a ridiculous amount of water there.