Dam Failure In Japan Refocuses Attention On California's Aging Structures

[hatrack]

EDIT

Following the near-catastrophe during the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, when 80,000 people living downstream of the Lower San Fernando Dam were immediately ordered to evacuate, California revamped its seismic safety dam programs.

"California probably has the safest inventory of dams in the world. Having said that the possibility of a dam failure is not zero. There is a process called structural Darwinism. An earthquake shakes a large area and if you miss something the earthquake finds it," said Raymond Seed, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Berkeley.

Many older dams in California are in need of seismic retrofitting. Several years ago, the Army Corps of Engineers learned that the 57-year-old Lake Isabella Dam in Kern County had serious problems. In addition to the danger of erosion and overflow in an extreme flood season, they learned that a fault underneath it previously thought to be inactive was actually active and could produce a strong earthquake. A number of dams in Santa Clara County are running at diminished capacity, after restrictions were imposed by the California Division of the Safety of Dams. Seismic retrofitting of Santa Clara County’s five dams, built between the 1930s and 1950s, could cost up to $150 million.

EDIT

The catastrophe in Japan makes clear the importance of strong regulations, Gov. Jerry Brown told reporters. "A lot of people say, 'Just get the government out of the way,'" he said. "Well, if you get 'em out of the way, people die."

EDIT/END

http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/japan-dam-failure-renews-focus-california-dams-9264

[jwirr]

1. These are also green jobs. Isn't energy from water clean?

[AtheistCrusader]

2. Depends on what sort of environmentalist you ask.

(I am pro-dam, consider the habitat changes worthwhile in most cases, for the clean energy obtained)

If you ask some environmentalists, they will cite Dams as being pretty bad for certain species of fish (as they do restrict access to some upstream spawning grounds), and habitat loss where the river is backed up behind the dam for pressure.

A side issue is the CO2 investment cost of constructing a dam, which is very high. But after that, it's sunk cost.

[phantom power]

3. "Clean" is a slippery word. The Banqiao Dam collapse in 1975 killed nearly 200 thousand people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banqiao_Dam

The damage to riparian environments is frequently colossal. Also there's the human dislocation that usually comes along. Furthermore, they don't actually last forever. They can wear out, or silt-up, etc.

[jwirr]

4. I was thinking or rehabbing the already existing ones. Thank both of

you for the info.

[FBaggins]

5. Wasn't the second worst disaster in CA history a dam failure?

Shouldn't need to look across the sea for examples.

[hatrack]

6. Yeah, St. Francis Dam - 700-1,000 dead, but we'll never know the real number

Reporting systems weren't all that good back then, and LA Water & Power didn't want a whole lot of publicity on the collapse.