Damn dams be damned

[marmar]

from the NY Times:



LAKE ISABELLA, Calif. — Frank Brassell, owner of Nelda’s Diner in this town wedged between the slopes of the southern Sierra Nevada, knows his fate should Lake Isabella Dam, a mile up the road, suddenly fail when the lake is full.

“I work here,” Mr. Brassell said, looking around the brightly lighted diner. “And I live right over there,” he added, pointing across the town’s main street.

“The water would all come down here and it would try to take a right turn and go under the freeway, and it wouldn’t all go,” he said. “So I’m dead.”

Lake Isabella Dam is just one acute example of a widespread problem: Of the nation’s 85,000 dams, more than 4,400 are considered susceptible to failure, according to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. But repairing all those dams would cost billions of dollars, and it is far from clear who would provide all the money in a recessionary era. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/science/22dam.html?_r=1&ref=science&pagewanted=all

[DainBramaged]

1. Damn the Republicans for letting the infrastructure go to hell for two generations

War is good, infrastructure is bad....

[marmar]

3. Agreed.

Dammit. :P

[pinto]

4. Agree. Here in CA the decay is obvious. We are just starting to play

"catch up" with federal stimulus dollars earmarked for infrastructure. Mainly roadway work, though...

[valerief]

2. We are now the Soviet Union before its fall. nt

[L0oniX]

5. Jobs? Oh noes we can't have those jobs ...military jobs are much better.

:crazy: