There is a danger of a dam collapsing

in the hills behind me. We were told about this yesterday and the state's emergency service has been working to pump water from it in the hope of preventing this. If they don't succeed they say about forty homes could be flooded.

Yes, it is a serious situation. At the same time it is  a farm dam, the sort of dam which is scattered all over the hills. These dams are used to provide water for livestock and for fire fighting. Farmers build them in consultation with other people who matter. (There is not much point in having a dam which is inaccessible to the Country Fire Service.)

Yesterday I was left wondering just how much urban dwellers know about all of this.  The answer would seem to be very little. I overheard someone complaining that the farmer in question should have to pay for what the emergency services were doing. Why? 

Unless there is evidence of deliberate wrong doing on the part of the farmer there is no reason to believe s/he should be held responsible. Farmers are actually doing everyone else a service. They are using their land for the benefit of everyone around them. In a bushfire water from a dam can mean the difference between lives and properties being saved and some of the worst disasters imaginable. It is likely that, in this instance, the farmer has been out there all night - and that s/he will be there until the danger has passed.

When the Senior Cat's closest friend moved to a property in the hills his first project, even before the house was built, was to have a small dam placed on the twenty acre property.  It has been used twice in the forty or so years the property has been occupied and both times it has helped to save the house and the surrounding houses. The dam was designed by someone whose job it is to design such things. It has needed maintenance over the years but it is an important part of the landscape.

I looked at a photograph of the dam under threat at the moment. I don't know a lot about those things but there were no obvious signs of failure to maintain it.  Simply all that has happened is that we have had far more rainfall than usual and part of the retaining wall has shifted under the weight of it. If they have pumped through the night the danger will be far less. Even if the dam collapses now it is unlikely to lead to loss of life.

Imagine though the damage a massive dam collapsing could cause. I know someone whose job it is to work on repairing dams all over the world.  His job is one of the most stressful in the world. The damage a collapse could cause in some places is almost beyond comprehension. Millions upon millions of people could be in the path of such major structures.  Dams are major and very complex structures requiring expert engineering. They are not "nice little artificial lakes".

The dam in the hills behind me is "paddle pool" size compared with some of the biggest in the world. But paddle pools are also capable of drowning children and they need to be watched over. I don't doubt the farmer and the SES people are doing just that.