Many of the nation’s largest dam projects are reaching the end of their useful lives, helped along by nature.
In an opinion column in Governing, Richard Parker outlines the state of the nation’s dams, many of which have been producing hydroelectric power and storing water for over a hundred years.
As Parker explains, “Once the height of engineering marvels, the great dams of the early 20th century have outlasted their questionable usefulness.” Many dams are now poorly maintained, clogged with silt, and pose an increasingly high risk of catastrophic failure.
Now, many of these dams are being removed “after declining in their power output and providing unpredictable sources of water — not to mention their massive environmental damage to fish, Native American cultures and the land itself.”
Parker describes the history of dams in the American West and their key role in the development of population centers in the arid Southwest, as well as the convergence of factors that makes their utility more and more limited. For Parker, the recent recognition of the damage dams cause and the movement to remove them is “part of the rewilding of America, long overdue.”
FULL STORY: American Dams Are Being Demolished. And Nature Is Pushing that Along.
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Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association