Elwha River Dam, the largest dam removal project ever attempted in the U.S, 2011. Photograph: © SAF — Coastal Care
Excerpts;
Rapidly rising water overtook dams and forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people in central Michigan, where the governor said one downtown could be “under approximately 9 feet of water.” Experts are describing this as a 500-year event…
Also of Interest:
Before and after images show how much a Michigan dam failure drained a lake, CNN (05-20-2020)
4 Hidden Causes of Dam Failures; National Geographic (10-09-2015)
In an era of extreme weather, concerns grow over dam safety; Yale E360 (07-09-2019)
Many of the United States’ 91,000 dams are aging and sorely in need of repairs that could collectively cost tens of billions of dollars. Experts are increasingly worried that as extreme precipitation events increase, dams are at greater risk of failure, threatening lives and posing environmental risks…
The Wrong Climate for Damming Rivers, A Video from Todd Southgate (05-26-2016)
Though large hydropower projects are often presented as a “clean and green” source of energy, nothing could be further from the truth…
Unintended consequences of dams and reservoirs; Science Daily (11-13-2018)
An international team of drought scientists show that while many dams and reservoirs are built, or expanded, to alleviate droughts and water shortages, they can paradoxically contribute to making them worse…
Movement to Take Down Thousands of Dams Goes Mainstream, National Geographic (01-29-2015)
Sediment Trapped Behind Dams Makes Them ‘Hot Spots’ for Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The large reservoirs of water behind the world’s 50,000 large dams are a known source of methane. Methane has a warming effect 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. That knowledge led to questions about hydroelectric power’s image as a green and nonpolluting energy source…
Hydropower, innovations and avoiding international dam shame; Science Daily (11-05-2018)
The benefits of energy from dams no longer outweigh the social and environmental costs that damming up rivers brings about…
Dams – Cutting off our Beach Sand; By Gary Griggs (12-19-2014)
