American Dams Weren't Built for Today's Climate-Charged Rain and Floods.

Many of the dams in the United States are not equipped to handle the increased levels of precipitation caused by climate change. The average US dam is 60 years old, even though they are typically designed for a 50-year period. There are over 92,000 dams in the country, with close to 20% classified as having "high hazard potential." Extreme precipitation has caused dam failures in several states, and the risk to dams is increasing as development encroaches on once-rural areas. Only 3% of dams in the US are under federal control, and an estimated $75.7 billion is needed to rehabilitate non-federal dams. The standard used to design dams, called Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP), is based on outdated data and does not account for climate change. Some states have updated their PMP, but many have not, and it is unclear if the state updates are sufficient. The US needs to update the way it calculates the PMP to consider climate change. Only two countries, Norway and Sweden, currently require dam owners to incorporate future climate predictions into their operations. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have issued a report urging the US to update its calculations, but funding for dam upgrades remains a challenge. [Extracted from the article]

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