First, there was Donald Trump‘s Executive order To launch billions of gallons of water from two tanks in the center of the valley in California, the Federalists moved after farmers and water experts criticized it as Wastingfor Mismanagement – An unnecessary risk factor in the region.
Nicholas Pinter, professor of applied geological sciences at the University of Taqus at the University of the University, said the mandate California In Davis, who studies California dams, “hydrological madness” has reached.
He said: “The volume that started initially began to release them and the absence of a warning to local officials – it is difficult to describe it as anything not crazy.”
Then it came last week Air riversWhich keeps people like Pinter to watch during the California rainy season.
This is because the California dam is, largely, already fraught with risks. On 2019 infrastructure report cardThe American Society of Civil Engineers gave state dams “D”, noting that despite the large investments, more work was needed to rehabilitate and improve it.
with More rain in predictingHere is what to know about the California dams:
What are dams?
The dams are the barriers created along with rivers, tables and other waterways to prevent floods and property, According to the American Army Engineers Corps. The dams generally take the form of dirt dam or flood walls made of concrete or other materials.
The dams differ from the dams, which were built through the waterways for the decline and collection of water in the tanks. When the water is released from the tank, the dams can be placed in the direction of the river.
The results of the dams failure occur quickly. Through some accounts, 80 % immersed from New Orleans Through Hurricane Katrina in 2004 due to dams violations, with the arrival of depths of water 7ft.
In California, dams are managed by a group of federal, state and local agencies, as well as by private land owners. This means that the information about the dams of the dams throughout the country may be difficult to find.
“Some dams were simply built randomly and were not easily found on any map or database, not to mention information about its quality and current condition,” said Ann Willis, American director of California. Rivers.
They are two of the main players in the dam management in the Golden State, and they are the American Army Engineers Corps, who owns his hand in the management of about 2300 miles (3,701 km) from the California dams, and the state, which runs about 1550 miles (2,494 km) of dams Most of them are in the central valley.
The National Dam Database in the Army Corps contains information about more than 1,600 federal, government and local dam in California and draws a picture of the societies that these structures protect: more than 5 million California residents live behind the dams, which protect about 3000 “critical structures”, such as Schools, firefighting stations, electrical sub -stations, and about 750,000 acres (303,514 hectares) of land Agricultural.
What is the safety of dams?
Willis said that while the dams are a common part of the California infrastructure, it is important to remember that it is just a human creature that tries to prevent the power of strong nature, whether it is a river in the atmosphere or 2 billion gallons launched from the tanks with a little Warning.
Willis said this does not mean that all dams are on the brink of collapse, but it is a reason for constant and increasing anxiety.
She said: “There are definitely areas where work and maintenance are done to strengthen the dam system.” “But this is really an exception. This problem is in fact not disappearing.”
The problem is that most people do not know this. “I think people see a dam and assume they have a level of flood protection that does not exist,” she said. “The dams are not a guarantee. The best protection is not to be in the first floods in the first place.”
Willis said that although the Central Valley dams seemed to have withstood the water that flowed after Trump’s sudden executive order, the brief increase in tension on a risky system is already risky.
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She said: “The decision to release this water a lot, this rapidly increased the danger of the flood represented in the societies costing by the army’s engineers’ engineers to protect. “
Pinter said: “This danger never goes away.”
California witnessed the consequences of this danger in 2023, when it was a dam along the Pajaro River, which was late for late maintenance decades FailedThe Monterey County community, which includes a society at risk, is submerged by the weak farmer of about 1,200 people.
In the same year, winter storms He threatened to violate a dam in the central city of KorkuranAnd that would put the city about 22,000 people underwater.
These recent failures indicate increasing concern in California: Since climate change brings more intense storms, state dams are not ready to deal with them.
“There is no infrastructure built for the future of climate variable,” Willis said.
On the bright side, Pinter pointed out that things began to improve: “There is awareness in California that there was no 20 years.”
Who is the most at risk?
On the national level, there are an impartial number of colored people, people who have less education and people who live in poverty live behind dams, according to 2023 Study of the American Geophysical Union.
The study found that the people of Spanish origin were the most representative group who lived behind dams worldwide.
In California, this often means that low -income persons, migrant farmers and unconfirmed people are unparalleled, according to Michael Mendes, assistant professor in environmental policy and planning at the University of California at Irvin. Many of those at risk in the middle of the valley, where hundreds of dams protect agricultural lands and agricultural workers.
He said: “Our low -income societies are unable to prepare or protect from these disasters because they have not been provided with sufficient resources to do so.”
He said: “These are some of the most deprived and stigma population who are seen as less merit of infrastructure, flexibility and promotion.” “This does not happen by chance or by chance at that time again and again, the same societies are harmed.”
This story was produced in partnership with California NewsroomCooperation in public media throughout the state.
