Old American Dams Quietly Become a Multibillion-Dollar Threat


	Old American Dams Quietly Become a Multibillion-Dollar Threat

tabsey

8-26-2009 6:08 AM

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tags:

beavers, wanted

tabsey says:

Will they build more dams, with water not guaranteed (El Nino, etc) or look to recycling.

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8-26-2009 8:54 AM

aklimento

Accidents are always result of the mix of negligence, stupidity and bureaucracy. With careful attention prevailing number of them is possible to predict and prevent. But how often we prefer "close our eyes and stay in paradise", as it was in New Orleans...

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/4dd1fe04-36ef-4499-85e5-1b2dfa9d1df8/3E03D18B-EF4D-4857-A02B-E7F2D46D6CA5/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/agingdams/" href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/agingdams/" style="font-size: 11px;">www.wired.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/agingdams/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.wired.com/img/CE01219B-28AC-4FF2-B8FB-BFEFCA0545F0" alt="dam_f" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/agingdams/"><P>Last week, a Siberian hydroelectric dam failed when an explosion rocked the site’s turbine room, killing dozens and taking 6,000 megawatts of electricity offline.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/agingdams/"><P>While the tragedy’s ultimate causes are unclear, Russian media has been questioning the state of the aging Soviet-made infrastructure. Dams are getting older in the United States, too. The average age of America’s 80,000 dams is 51 years. More than 2,000 dams near population centers are in need of repair, according to <A href="http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AlC_pAJFqGnHdDJfbTg5cktzdmpBY2ZfOFBFU3A0a1E&hl=en">statistics released this month</A> by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/agingdams/"><P>Last year, 140 dams were fixed, but inspectors discovered 368 more that need help. That’s why the American Society of Civil Engineers gave our dams a grade of “D” in its <A href="http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/fact-sheet/dams">2009 report on the nation’s infrastructure</A>. There are just too many aging dams and too few safety inspectors.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/agingdams/">“With the huge number of dams getting older every day, it’s becoming a bigger and bigger problem,” </blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/3E03D18B-EF4D-4857-A02B-E7F2D46D6CA5/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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