Worse Than Isis. Mosul dam foundation dissolving. Half a million Iraqis could die State Dept. Warns [View all]

[eridani]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1/11/1468380/-Worse-Than-Isis-Mosul-dam-foundation-dissolving-Half-a-million-Iraqis-could-die-State-Dept-Warns

Only a madman would build a dam on a foundation of rock salt. That man would be Saddam Hussein. The dam would be Mosul Dam, Iraq’s largest. The rock salt would be gypsum, a salt of calcium and sulfate which is less soluble than sodium chloride (table salt) but dangerously soluble for the foundation of a dam. Mosul, a city of 2 million people below the dam could be hit by a 66 foot (20 meters) wall of water. The state department warns that half a million people could die and a million left homeless when the dam fails.

Mosul dam has required constant high maintenance since it was built, but occupation by ISIS disrupted the ongoing injection of grout to seal channels continuously forming in the dam’s foundation. Engineers have found extensive evidence of the connection of new channels formed by rock dissolution to ancient natural channels in limestone. The clay that was plugging those ancient channels may be washing away as the water flowing under high pressure erodes it and pushes open the channels. The Mosul dam may be beyond repair.

Engineers have recommended building a new dam below the failing dam to protect the people of Mosul, but time is running out. Dam failure could bring catastrophe beyond comprehension.