Summary: The Oroville Dam Near-Break

3.5 million miles of water run throughout the United States; and since the country’s conception, over 80,000 dams have impounded 600,000 miles of these waters [1]. Dams were originally constructed to provide water to towns and establishes energy sources for mills and later hydroelectric plants. Because these dams were constructed decades ago, they’re reaching a critical point of obsoleteness where they cause more harm than good. Dam removal is increasingly popular across the country to address the ecological problems including habitat loss and sedimentation, despite potential for downstream harm, removing dams is more environmentally and economically cost effective than upgrading them. The Marmot, Glines Canyon, and Elwha river dam removal projects each highlight different challenges of dam removal, but overall

Along this journey created by nature, the river interacts with man’s influence to encapsulate the full geographic experience of this region. The succession of dams along the river’s path is a major contribution to how man has decided to mesh with the river. The dams have created reservoirs for water supplies, harnessed energy to provide electric power to the southwestern region, and controlled flooding. Flood control was the main concern at the time between the years 1905 and 1907 when large floods broke through the irrigation gates and destroyed crops in California. The flooding was so large it actually created a 450 square mile sea, named the Salton Sea. As a result of this major disaster, ideas were formulated to

The Grand Coulee Dam, located in Eastern Washington, was one of controversy, risk, and a point of no return. While the water captured made the desert area blossom in agriculture and it powered some large cities, it created a sense of accomplishment, that humans can control Mother Nature. While many people were very excited for this new construction – which gives power and resources - at the time, some thought it should not be allowed, they are not proud of containing the Columbia River. In this analysis, I am going to focus on the economic and social effects that the Grand Coulee Dam created in its build.

“The dam and reservoir required the purchase of about 22,000 acres of land” 1-1 . This is the number that lies at the heart of a wound and a controversy that is deeply rooted in Eastern Tennessee. While the number is large and significant, it is not the amount of land that was lost to the Tellico Dam project that caused the people of that area such grief. Rather, it was the meaning of the land that once intertwined irreplaceable history, livelihoods, sport and the like of a community for centuries. At a time in the nation's history where just the pitch for job growth and intercommunication between urban and countryside peaked the interest of hurting rural communities, TVA was met with harsh opposition from

The 1930s were not for a moment easy since the Great Depression, which was the utmost absolutely horrible stock-market crash the U.S. has ever dealt with. But when the government planned to start building glorious architectures, people had jobs that paid exceptionally well and could afford to own a home in “depressed” America. When President Hoover was nominated president, he tried to change the ways of the depression, by increasing tariffs so imported goods would stay away, which never helped at all (Owen). Sadly, President Hoover should have just focused on helping the people, like increasing taxes that would cause the wealthy to more, and he would give the people some money back.

The Three Gorges Dam is an unfinished project which will be the largest dam ever constructed on the planet Earth. It is situated in China on the third largest river in the world – the Yangtze. The dam has been debated over since the 1919 and is still a hot topic of debate because of its many pros and cons. In 1994 construction began on the dam, and it is expected to be finished by the year 2009. The massive dimensions of the dam are mind boggling and its functions – if the dam actually works – are truly remarkable; however, with such a large structure also comes difficulties, sacrifices, and cynics. The goal of this essay is to lend an understanding of the dam itself, the prospective benefits of

Repeated events, highlighted by the flood of 1993 and the fallout of Katrina, continues to illustrate the US Army Corps of Engineers’ failure in strengthening flood control up and down the Mississippi, including the redesign and upgrading levees. America is a product of this constant struggle in dominating nature using science and reason.

The Grand Coulee Dam(G.C.D) changed Kettle Falls forever. Kettle Falls was a peaceful river where Native Americans fished every year. It is said that around 3,000 fish were fished every year. Then in 1933, everything changed when the Grand Coulee Dam started construction and finished on June 1, 1942, that is almost a decade. I feel like it is good that we built the Grand Coulee Dam. The Dam has great effects that have benefitted Washington. Two of them are the jobs people got in the Great Depression and Irrigation we got.

McCullough once again reiterates the responsibility of man prior to the 1889 disaster with the example of Daniel J. Morrell’s concerns in 1880. He sent John Fulton on behalf of the Cambria Iron Works to inspect the dam, where two major structural problems were found: there was no discharge pipe to reduce water in the dam, and, the previous repair left a leak that cut into the dam. This initial warning and advice was rejected, even after their offer to pay for repairs. McCullough then points out that there were in fact four other crucial problems that needed to be repaired that had not been noticed by Fulton. The height of the dam had been lowered, reducing the height between the crest and the spillway. A screen of iron rods were put across the spillway, which would decrease its capacity when clogged by debris. The dam sagged in the center so it was lower than at the ends when the center should have been highest and strongest. Lastly, the club brought the level of the lake nearly to the top so there was no reserve capacity for a severe storm. By indicating the many problems with the dam prior to the great flood of 1889 and the South Fork Club’s refusal to acknowledge the potential danger, McCullough is leaving little doubt to the reader of his

The engineers at the dam had no choice, and had to take the most appropriate action, which would benefit the people living in the surrounding areas the most, based on the situation, as a result, they had to release the water and not allow it to go beyond the 200 per cent capacity limit. If they allowed the water capacity in the dam to go beyond the 200 percent capacity limit, that would mean that the secondary spillway will be activated and they would not be able to control the water flow, which would then lead to the flood levels rapidly rising. Should this occur, there is a high chance that the loss of lives would be significantly higher, and the amount of damage would be much worse than what had actually occurred in 2011. More so, in the event that no action was taken at all, and the water levels began to rise at a much higher rate, until water started to spill over the dam wall, there would have been a possibility that the dam wall would have started to erode. With the additional pressure buildup from the water it is holding back, it would have been possible that the dam wall could have then collapsed completely, which would possibly have wiped out the whole city. Judging by this, the actions taken by the engineers then are ethical and correct, as if it was not for their action to release the water, the damage that could have occurred would have been significantly worse, and would have caused more grievous harm to the majority of the population of

There has been a terrific incident in 1889 where Johnstown Pennsylvania had a massive flood which 2,209 people were killed in total and estimated $17 million property was damaged. The main cause of the flood was the dam failure of the Southern Fork Dam on Little Conemaugh River located 14 miles upstream from Johnstown. The event was said the worst dam tragedy in the United States history.

The Bonneville Dam is located in the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington state. The Bonneville Dam began construction in 1934 and was opened by 1938. The Dam was built to generate a large amount of energy to the public, to control floods, and for irrigation. It was also constructed to improve navigation on the Columbia River. The construction of the Bonneville Dam caused negative effects to the Indian community that had centered their culture near the Columbia River. The facility administrator that was overseeing the construction of the dam was ordered to complete the dam taking any step necessary to do so. This included the decision on the disposal of personal property of the area which caused the destruction of forty Indian fishing

The reservoir failure is classified as a man-made event as it was caused by a failure of the over pumping protective systems which includes pressure transducers that monitor the water level within the upper reservoir and report the status of the water level to a remote monitoring center. This created a cascading series of man-made natural events in

The Mono Basin Project was created to gather more water flow into Los Angeles. In 1935, the city applied to build Grant Lake Dam. According to The Fish and Game Commission determined that fishways would not be needed and they approved the construction of the dam. Upon acquiring the Long Valley reservoir, the Commission had to examine the same issue, and decided that an alternative method would have to be built to make up for the loss by both dams. Therefore, the Hot Creek Agreement was established in 1940, which required the city to provide land, water rights, and funds for the Hatchery. The Mono Basin Project was finished by 1939.

dam breaks and everyone is not prepared, there will be some problems associated with the