Big dams pose big risks worldwide

Not long ago I posted about the Glen Canyon Dam, which for all that is wrong with it isn't at near-term risk for catastrophic failure. That's not the case for plenty of dams in the world.

Both dams exemplify the potentially dangerous mix of structural decay, escalating risk, and bureaucratic inertia highlighted in a pioneering new study into the growing risks from the world’s aging dams, published in January by the United Nations University (UNU), the academic and research arm of the UN. It warns that a growing legacy of crumbling dams past their design lives is causing a dramatic increase in dam failures, leaks, and emergency water releases that threaten hundreds of millions of people living downstream. Meanwhile, safety inspectors cannot keep up with the workload. - E360