Dams in Danger
Another infrastructure problem
As we have blogged about in this space before, America’s infrastructure is badly in need of repair. There is one area in particular that is being overlooked—our nation’s aging dams. According to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, 4,400 of the nation’s 85,000 aging dams are considered susceptible to failure.
What could such a failure mean? In some cases, such as the Lake Isabella, California example used in this New York Times article from last week, there is at least a small chance of a deadly disaster along the lines of the Johnstown Flood that killed 2,200 in Pennsylvania in 1889. Even if a current dam failure doesn’t caused damages on the large and tragic scale of Johnstown, the impact would still be tremendous. In addition to the potential loss of human life, there would be economic and environmental damage to deal with.