Yet another instance of American infrastructure that’s seen better days. From David Manney at pjmedia.com:
When looking at a house from the curb, it looks sturdy for years, while the soil beneath it slowly gives way. Doors stick, cracks appear, and nothing dramatic happens at first. Then, one day, the damage becomes impossible to ignore.
Over 2,500 U.S. dams, classified as high hazard potential, are sinking into the ground, often without visible warning. High hazard doesn’t mean a dam will fall tomorrow; it implies that failure would likely cause loss of life or major downstream damage.
Many of those structures sit above towns, roads, power lines, and water systems that depend on the steady control of massive reservoirs.
The United States operates over 90,000 dams, most of which were built decades ago, many during the postwar construction boom. The average dam is now over 60 years old. Time, pressure, water, and soil movement never stop working against concrete and earthworks.
Recently, scientists used a satellite-based tool called Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar to measure how dams have moved over the past ten years. The technology detects ground changes measured in millimeters by comparing radar images taken over time — think time-lapse photography.
That method allows large-scale monitoring without setting foot on the structure.
I bet it happens in California, oh wait.
I challenge Colorado’s we did it first with secede first.