Un-Damming America's Rivers

30 July 2009 - 7:00am

Dams are increasingly being removed in the U.S. as part of an effort to save fish.

Environmental concerns are driving the removals, not lifespan issues that had led these efforts in the past.

"Of the 900 dams that have ever been removed from American rivers, half have come down in the last 10 years. There have always been those who railed against them—fishermen, for example, and environmentalists—but most of the dams removed prior to the 1990s were breached in the interest of public safety, sacrificed to prevent another flood like the one in 1889 when a Johnstown, Pennsylvania, dam was breached, killing 2,200 people. The majority removed recently, like the Edwards, have been torn down in the name of fish."

Full Story: Dam It All
Source: Good, July 29, 2009
Bookmark and Share
The increased attention to matters of urban design has forced the field to become alert to more aspects of the social and natural sciences, to transportation and civil engineering, water and waste management, zoning and public policy, and other areas earlier considered largely the responsibility of others.