Un-Dammed

Am I the only one looking at this and seeing a tragedy?

Neat! When I was a kid, we lived next to a lake whose dam broke in the middle of the night. It took about a week for the lake bed to be dry enough to walk on but it was great fun after that. We found all kinds of interesting things that had been lost in the lake over the years, including watches and old LPs. Much to our parents regret, we had epic mud wars. Much more fun than the lake ever had been.

Eventually it dryed up and started to look like the surface of Mars. The soil was incredible for growing crops. It's been over thirty years and last time I looked, you couldn't tell there was ever a lake there. It's filled with trees and bushes. A stream flowing through the middle is all that is left of the old lake.

Look how silted up that lake was. Reservoirs need to be drained regularly for that reason and others. If they are not their capacity is reduced over time.

@Jon A. since it clearly wasn't a disaster why would you say that?

@Jolly - I don't think Jon knows the story behind it. I am sure if he did, he might think otherwise.

Very cool video. Thanx for posting this.

Seems like a more gradual draining would have been better for the area downstream...

Bill, the Wikipedia page about the dam, and the restoration project, says that there was debate about gradual vs. quick draining, and the conclusion was that quick draining would have less overall impact.

Yes, Jon, you are.

Please explain why you feel that it's a tragedy, though, and you may convince others.