Only 40% of dams in Japan can mitigate flood risks: survey

Japanese quality.

Another example of perfect incompetence in the design, forethought, construction and implementation.

This is Japan.

Dams are quite a hazard when pushed to their maximum. Not something urban planners or civil engineers in Japan are aware of. Think someone should let them know about this. And the ridiculous highway designs, nothing says future like paying to travel on a two lane road at a kilometre an hour.

The numbers above must be only large dams, I guess, because there are tens of thousands of ordinary earthen dams in almost every valley throughout Japan. Two summers ago we were given the order to evacuate because the earthen dam up the valley was cracking and threatening to burst. They used fire hoses across the sagging section to pump out excess water and gradually lowered the water level to safe levels.

Even so, some of the excuses are pretty lame, especially that last one. Er, hello! Anyone at home? Surely that is a problem that every dam faces yearly, and nothing to do with sluice gates or a lack thereof.

Quote: "One of the respondents said that if they pre-release water but have no rain, the resulting water shortage entails risks to farmers and water utility companies and negatively impacts society at large."

It is great that these checks are made periodically even if prompted by the recent heavy rains and unprecedented flooding in locations here to fore unexpected. It also allows to evaluate the effectiveness and reliability of past technology or techniques and designs used at each dam to evaluate the determine repairs, refurbishing and redesigning new dams for efficiency, safety and stability over a period of time and when the unexpected overload occurs.

The dam, if it breaks is a man made "tsunami" of sorts. The dam can be "controlled" to prevent disasters while still providing the original intent of water resource management unless caused by major earthquakes and volcanic activities,