October 30, 2007
Looming disaster in Mosul
And nothing to do with the war, this time:
The largest dam in Iraq is at risk of an imminent collapse that could unleash a 20m (65ft) wave of water on Mosul, a city of 1.7m people, the US has warned . . .Bloody hell -- and with nearly 2 million people downstream. From the BBC.Iraq says it is reducing the risk and insists there is no cause for alarm.
However, a US watchdog said reconstruction of the dam had been plagued by mismanagement and potential fraud. . .The dam has been a problem for Iraqi engineers since it was constructed in 1984.
It was built on water-soluble gypsum, which caused seepage within months of its completion and led investigators to describe the site as "fundamentally flawed".
In September 2006, the US Army Corps of Engineers determined that the dam, 45 miles upstream of Mosul on the River Tigris, presented an unacceptable risk.
"In terms of internal erosion potential of the foundation, Mosul Dam is the most dangerous dam in the world," the corps warned, according to the SIGIR report. "If a small problem [at] Mosul Dam occurs, failure is likely."
More on the dam (formerly "Saddam Dam") at Wikipedia, which notes that a collapse could also inundate Baghdad to a depth of 15 feet. The largest dam in Iraq, its construction flooded an area extending northwards to the Turkish and Syrian borders, necessitating a host of hasty salvage excavations of important archeological sites.
Posted by David on October 30, 2007 10:25 AM
If Baghdad gets flooded and uninhabitable, will the Bush admin take credit for quelling the violence?
Posted by: Zeno Izen on October 30, 2007 2:50 PM
Ha, Zeno, good one...NOT. Hateful idiot, you are.
But thanks, BBC, for making this a prime AlQaida target...
Posted by: doug in colorado on October 31, 2007 12:03 PM
Don't blame the BBC (or Wikipedia, for that matter). The state of the dam has been publicly discussed for some time, including speculation and concern at the time of the invasion that Saddam's forces might blow it up as a last-ditch flooded-earth move.
Posted by: David on November 1, 2007 8:47 AM
It was actually built on gypsum-rich sediments, not gypsum, and not adequately sealed or reinforced--should have been put elsewhere. The fact that it has lasted as long as it has, misleads the less than clever Iraqi bureaucrats to the dangers, but it is not likely a real terror target--would take many, many loads of explosives placed appropriately and such an effort would be noticed. But, some remedy should be found--it is only a matter of time that there will be a disaster.
Posted by: Donald Wolberg on November 5, 2007 12:45 AM
gmail.com