Look Ma! We dam(m/n)ed the rivers!!

 

For the proponents of linking river waters or damming them, this image serves as a stark reminder of human foolishness!

It is an illustration of Mississipi river by Herold Fiske that shows the course changes of the river over thousands of years.

(History has submerged lands and stranded river bridges because the rivers switched their courses just like that!)

"Bridge to Nowhere"

In Honduras, Africa; a river "moved" away after the bridge was built

484 meter long bridge over a river that had a width of a hundred meters under the bridge, just moved away because of a hurricane!

(Below text is from a news article that uses the bridge as a metaphor to drive some Covid lessons but I reproduce here only the bridge related info)

"

The Choluteca bridge is a 484 m. long bridge in Honduras in a region notorious for storms and hurricanes. The bridge, completed in 1998, was a modern marvel of engineering, designed to withstand powerful forces of nature. But as it turns out, in the same year that the bridge was commissioned for use, Honduras was hit by Hurricane Mitch, which caused considerable damage to the nation and its infrastructure.

Many other bridges were damaged, but the Choluteca bridge survived in near perfect condition. However, roads on either end of the bridge completely vanished, leaving no visible trace of their prior existence. More impressively, the Choluteca River (which is several hundred feet wide) had carved itself a new channel during the massive flooding caused by the hurricane. It no longer flowed beneath the bridge, which now spanned dry ground. The bridge quickly became known as “The Bridge to Nowhere.

"

A NYT article from 2006 that details the operational, environmental and social impact of a river changing its course and emptying out two dams (like draining bath tubs!) - it happened in US in 2006. There are many such incidents allover and in fact, USA has started removing dams to aid rivers flow freely!

How learned countries are adapting to undo the damages?

How many dams USA has "removed" from its rivers in the past 100 years?!

Some interesting (mind boggling actually!) data:

90,000 - Estimated number of dams in the U.S.

1797 - Dams removed since 1912

69 - Dams removed in 2020

210 feet tall - Largest dam removed

We the Vedic Nation always believe in crossing the bridge when we reach there. So, we will keep building more and more dams in anticipation of the disasters that have been playing out all around us and then build some more before it hits closer home.

Then we will think about removing dams, maybe in the 22nd century.

(Images reproduced from web sources and may be subject to copyright)