<story><title>Oroville Dam: Feds and state officials ignored warnings 12 years ago</title><url>http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/12/oroville-dam-feds-and-state-officials-ignored-warnings-12-years-ago/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>yread</author><text>I was just wondering about it the other day while researching the topic: why are there so many dam failures in the states?&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Dam_failure#List_of_major_dam_failures&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Dam_failure#List_of_major_dam_...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since 19th century US has the most (well, at least a lot) dam failures.&lt;p&gt;Is it because there are so many? Are they privately owned and the owners just count on declaring bankruptcy if it fails? Is it the engineering, the geology, the maintenance?&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Even such a major project like Hoover Dam was not done properly (it seems grouting curtains were not often used elsewhere)
&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web.mst.edu&amp;#x2F;~rogersda&amp;#x2F;hoover_dam&amp;#x2F;Grout%20Curtain%20Failure-Hoover%20Dam.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web.mst.edu&amp;#x2F;~rogersda&amp;#x2F;hoover_dam&amp;#x2F;Grout%20Curtain%20Fa...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>brentdax</author><text>The US is #2 in large dams with about 9,000. China is #1 with nearly 24,000, but their dam construction has almost all been since 1949. So my guess is that it&amp;#x27;s a combination of the US having many dams, and having had them for many years.&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.icold-cigb.org&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;GB&amp;#x2F;world_register&amp;#x2F;general_synthesis&amp;#x2F;number-of-dams-by-country-members&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.icold-cigb.org&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;GB&amp;#x2F;world_register&amp;#x2F;general_...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Oroville Dam: Feds and state officials ignored warnings 12 years ago</title><url>http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/12/oroville-dam-feds-and-state-officials-ignored-warnings-12-years-ago/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>yread</author><text>I was just wondering about it the other day while researching the topic: why are there so many dam failures in the states?&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Dam_failure#List_of_major_dam_failures&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Dam_failure#List_of_major_dam_...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since 19th century US has the most (well, at least a lot) dam failures.&lt;p&gt;Is it because there are so many? Are they privately owned and the owners just count on declaring bankruptcy if it fails? Is it the engineering, the geology, the maintenance?&lt;p&gt;EDIT: Even such a major project like Hoover Dam was not done properly (it seems grouting curtains were not often used elsewhere)
&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web.mst.edu&amp;#x2F;~rogersda&amp;#x2F;hoover_dam&amp;#x2F;Grout%20Curtain%20Failure-Hoover%20Dam.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web.mst.edu&amp;#x2F;~rogersda&amp;#x2F;hoover_dam&amp;#x2F;Grout%20Curtain%20Fa...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>wallace_f</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t know. However, construction projects with ridiculous levels of corruption are not unknown in America.(1)&lt;p&gt;1 - &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.workers.org&amp;#x2F;2006&amp;#x2F;us&amp;#x2F;big-dig-0831&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.workers.org&amp;#x2F;2006&amp;#x2F;us&amp;#x2F;big-dig-0831&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>