Waterblogged

Full disclosure: the title is deliberately misleading. Waterblogged.info’s research team is embarrassed to report that they’re having a hard time identifying the world’s second most dangerous dam. Googling the world’s second most dangerous dam yields no results and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—which has declared Iraq’s Mosul Dam the most dangerous—has not responded to our repeated phone calls.

We’re not even certain if the Mosul is the most dangerous dam, because that really depends on if you’re considering short- or long-term consequences. While the worst-case scenario for the Mosul Dam’s failure is a massive inundation that could kill 500,000 people, the long-term effects of what is most likely the world’s most hated dam—China’s Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze—are potentially much more profound and destructive. (The photo shows tourists viewing a model of the dam.)

This New York Times article is a lengthy and sobering account of the current and future human and ecological costs of this key component of China’s project to destroy the planet.