Lake Mead / Hoover Dam collapse article.

[UndercoverElephant]

https://www.patreon.com/posts/22137294

Combination of water shortages and generator failure due to lack of water pressure will make life impossible in much of south-west US.

[fuzzy]

Well they can't make any useful decisions because that would would be communism right? Central planning is bad. A bit like the UK, where central planning would require our 650 MP + whitehall scum to work between holidays.

[emordnilap]

Droves of citizens heading for the cities because of drought. I seem to recall that's happened before, with disastrous results.

Can't happen in the great US of A, can it? Yes it can!

[boisdevie]

Well they can't make any useful decisions because that would would be communism right? Central planning is bad. A bit like the UK, where central planning would require our 650 MP + whitehall scum to work between holidays.

What, you mean the kind of central planning that made the USSR such a success?

[kenneal - lagger]

No, the sort of central planning that made the US a success in the 40s and 50s and laid the foundations for their current wealth.

[raspberry-blower]

Not just a lack of water that threatens dams - too much of it is also a major concern. Particularly now with Climate Change bringing about more intense weather events.

Naked Capitalism:
More on Flood Control: The Missouri River, the levees, and the Gavins Point and Spencer Dams

The Dams

The flooding comes:


But, in the last week, the Corps said we were headed for an all-time new high crest of just over 46 feet. Most of it would come from below Gavins Point, which is beyond the Corps’ control. The flood was the result of rapid snowmelt and rain. That crest would be higher than 2011 at 44.79 feet. Sandbagging would be pointless, and no one would be permitted on levees during the rise. But they also said it would be fast up and fast down because it was runoff from a single event. Most levees in good repair could possibly stand up to the brief overflow being predicted. Unfortunately, that didn’t take into account a 92-year-old earthen dam [the Spencer dam] on Nebraska’s Niobrara River, where something called a bomb cyclone ruined the dam, releasing a wall of water onto farms and pastures, washing away crops and livestock, and finding its way into Gavins Point dam at the forefront of Missouri River flood control.

Gavins Point is the last line of defense against Missouri River flooding in four states. It’s designed to meter upstream water into the river, not contain it. So when big water hits Big Muddy at Gavins Point, about all the authorities at Gavins Point can do is say “look out below.�

[kenneal - lagger]

Sounds like a class action against Trump and the fossil fuel companies is required to sue for compensation for knowingly covering up the effects of carbon emissions.

[kenneal - lagger]

Having watched the video of the collapsed dam it looks like there is extensive damage to the concrete parts of the dam as well as the earthen section. The control building and parts of the concrete spillways look to have been badly damaged.

Looking at the amount of ice lying around there might have been an ice surge with the spring break up which has damaged both parts of the dam. Another extreme weather event which might or might not be down to climate change.

[vtsnowedin]

Keep in mind that the US has a continental divide line that runs down the spine of the rocky mountains. The Missouri river drains the east side from Montana down to the Mississippi at St. Louis. Lake Meade is fed by the Colorado river on the west side of the divide and the present high snow pack (133% of average)
is going to help refill both lake Powell and lake Mead and poses no danger to the Hoover and Glen canyon dams.
They are presently drawing down lake Powell sending the water down to lake Meade which as come up fourteen feet since the low of last July with ten feet of that just since December first.
Not enough to refill totally of course after several years of drought but a solid gain from recent results.

[fuzzy]

Good stuff, but did anyone drive a digger and dumper truck over the dry bed and scour some useful farm sediment off, while adding to the liquid capacity?

Hint - I've never seen anyone do this on any of those drought apocalypse stories we see about dams.

[kenneal - lagger]

Perhaps they should dredge the Aswan Dam on the Nile and spread that over land downstream to fertilise it. But then they would be using fossil fuel to do what nature once did naturally for free. Not to worry though because they can use more artificial fertiliser instead!!

[vtsnowedin]

Perhaps they should dredge the Aswan Dam on the Nile and spread that over land downstream to fertilise it. But then they would be using fossil fuel to do what nature once did naturally for free. Not to worry though because they can use more artificial fertiliser instead!!

Would it be considered free if the damage done by the yearly flooding was accounted for?
I have to doubt that dredged and trucked silt/topsoil would ever be more cost efficient then just using best management practices (cover crops , green manure etc. ) but it might be cheaper then just dumping on more commercial fertilizer once that becomes expensive in a post peakoil world.
Might have to use a solar powered dredge and EV trucks to get the job done in some future energy starved world.

[adam2]

And after some years, this is still/again a problem.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61669233

[BritDownUnder]

I went on a tour of the dam and power station and liked it. You could see a lot more than I thought would be allowed.

[kenneal - lagger]

....................
I have to doubt that dredged and trucked silt/topsoil would ever be more cost efficient then just using best management practices (cover crops , green manure etc. ) but it might be cheaper then just dumping on more commercial fertilizer once that becomes expensive in a post peakoil world.
Might have to use a solar powered dredge and EV trucks to get the job done in some future energy starved world.

Your point about the Aswan dam from 04/19 might have something going for it right now, vt, if you're lurking still. Are we now in a post peak oil world?

God might be reclaiming the Californian desert from man now. You can't sow and reap without water in a desert and if artificial fertilizers are too expensive you have double the trouble. I suppose that the Californian growing system was basically a hydroponic system on a vast scale with no greenhouse required.