SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
Danger Pent Up Behind Aging Dams
from the New York Times (Registration Required)
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.
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