A dam failure or dam burst is a catastrophic type of

structural failure Structural integrity and failure is an aspect of engineering that deals with the ability of a structure to support a designed structural load (weight, force, etc.) without breaking and includes the study of past structural failures in order to ...

characterized by the sudden, rapid, and uncontrolled release of impounded water or the likelihood of such an uncontrolled release. Between the years 2000 and 2009 more than 200 notable dam failures happened worldwide. A

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, that directs or slows down the flow, often creating a

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

or impoundments. Most dams have a section called a ''

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure tha ...

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

'' over or through which water flows, either intermittently or continuously, and some have

hydroelectric power generation Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also ...

systems installed. Dams are considered "installations containing dangerous forces" under

international humanitarian law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict or the laws of war, is the law that regulates the conduct of war (''wikt:jus in bello, jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit ...

due to the massive impact of a possible destruction on the civilian population and the environment. Dam failures are comparatively rare, but can cause immense damage and loss of life when they occur. In 1975 the failure of the Banqiao Reservoir Dam and other dams in

Henan Province Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Luo ...

, China caused more casualties than any other dam failure in history. The disaster killed an estimated 171,000 people and 11 million people lost their homes.

Main causes of dam failures

International special sign for works and installations containing dangerous forces

Common causes of dam failure include: * Sub-standard construction materials/techniques ( Gleno Dam) *

Spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure tha ...

design error (near failure of

Glen Canyon Dam Glen Canyon Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the southwestern United States, located on the Colorado River in northern Arizona, near the city of Page. The dam was built by the Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) from 1956 to 1966 and forms L ...

Oroville Dam Oroville Dam is an earthfill embankment dam on the Feather River east of the city of Oroville, California, in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of the Sacramento Valley. At 770 feet (235 m) high, it is the tallest dam in the U.S. and serv ...

, Walnut Grove Dam) *Lowering of dam crest height, which reduces spillway flow (

South Fork Dam The South Fork Dam was an earthenwork dam forming Lake Conemaugh (formerly Western Reservoir, also known as the Old Reservoir and Three Mile Dam, a misnomer), an artificial body of water near South Fork, Pennsylvania, United States. On May 31, ...

) * Geological instability caused by changes to water levels during filling or poor surveying (

Malpasset Dam The Malpasset Dam was an arch dam (convex surface facing upstream) on the Reyran, Reyran River, north of Fréjus on the French Riviera. It collapsed on 2 December 1959, killing 423 people in the resulting flood. The breach was caused by a tectoni ...

). * Sliding of a mountain into the reservoir (

Vajont Dam The Vajont Dam or Vaiont Dam is a disused hydro-electric dam in northern Italy. It is one of the tallest dams in the world, with a height of . It is in the valley of the Vajont (river) under Monte Toc, in the municipality of Erto e Casso, ...

– not a dam failure, but caused nearly the entire volume of the reservoir to be displaced and overtop the dam) * Poor maintenance, especially of outlet pipes ( Lawn Lake Dam,

Val di Stava dam collapse The Val di Stava Dam collapse occurred on 19 July 1985, when two tailings dams above the village of Stava, near Tesero, Italy, failed. It resulted in one of Italy's worst disasters, killing 268 people, destroying 63 buildings and demolishing eig ...

) * Extreme inflow (

Shakidor Dam Shadi Kaur Dam (also "Shadikor") is a dam located on the Shadi Kaur river about north of Pasni in Balochistan province of Pakistan. The dam, long, and 35 metres high, was constructed in 2003 at a cost of 45 million Pakistani rupees ($758,853) t ...

) * Human, computer or design error ( Buffalo Creek Flood,

Dale Dike Reservoir Dale Dike Reservoir or Dale Dyke Reservoir () is a reservoir in the north-east Peak District, in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, a mile (1.6 km) west of Bradfield and from the centre of Sheffield Sheffield is a ci ...

Taum Sauk pumped storage plant Tuam (; , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. The town is in a civil parish of the same name. Human ...

) *

Internal erosion Internal erosion is the formation of voids within a soil caused by the removal of material by seepage. It is the second most common cause of failure in levees and one of the leading causes of failures in earth dams, responsible for about half of e ...

or piping, especially in earthen dams (

Teton Dam The Teton Dam was an earthen dam in the western United States, on the Teton River in eastern Idaho. It was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, one of eight federal agencies authorized to construct dams.Perrow, Charles. '' Normal Accide ...

) *

Earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

s * Climate-driven landscape instability (Rock-ice avalanches, Permafrost landslides, Debris flows, Outburst floods from glacial lakes and landslide-dammed lakes)

Deliberate breaching

A notable case of deliberate dam breaching was the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

Dambusters raid on Germany in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

(codenamed ''"

Operation Chastise Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambusters Raid, was an attack on Nazi Germany, German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by No. 617 Squadron RAF, 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using spe ...

"''), in which six German dams were selected to be breached in order to impact German infrastructure and manufacturing and power capabilities deriving from the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

and Eder rivers. This raid later became the basis for several films. Attacks on dams were restricted in Article 56 of the 1977

Protocol I Protocol I (also Additional Protocol I and AP I) is a 1977 amendment Protocol (diplomacy), protocol to the Geneva Conventions concerning the protection of civilian casualty, civilian victims of international war, including "armed conflicts in ...

amendment to the

Geneva Convention upright=1.15, The original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are international humanitarian laws consisting of four treaties and three additional protocols that establish international legal standards for humanitarian t ...

s. Dams may not be lawfully attacked "if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces from the works or installations and consequent severe losses among the civilian population", unless "it is used for other than its normal function and in regular, significant and direct support of military operations and if such attack is the only feasible way to terminate such support". Similar provisions apply to other sources of "dangerous forces", such as nuclear power plants. Other cases include the Chinese bombing of multiple dams during

Typhoon Nina (1975) Typhoon Nina, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Bebeng, was an extremely deadly tropical cyclone in the summer of 1975. It formed on July 30 and gradually intensified as it moved generally to the west. On August 2, Nina reached ...

in an attempt to drain them before their reservoirs overflowed. The typhoon produced what is now considered a 1-in-2,000-year flood, which few if any of these dams were designed to survive. The

Kakhovka Dam The Kakhovka Dam was a dam on the Dnieper River (also known as Dnipro) in Kherson Oblast, Ukraine, completed in 1956 and destroyed in 2023, which provided water for the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station (). The primary purposes of the dam were hyd ...

was destroyed in June 2023, during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

List of major dam failures

Expected dam failures

Based on the advances in

structural engineering Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and joints' that create the form and shape of human-made Structure#Load-bearing, structures. Structural engineers also ...

, seismology and previous dam failures, it has become possible to predict, or in some cases to know with certainty, about future dam failures. Important additional aspects are typical experiences with lack of monitoring and maintenance of dams and the false operation of dams in favour of electricity production, not flood-control (leading to higher reservoir levels with less flood intake-capacity). Some dam failures, like that of

Aswan High Dam The Aswan Dam, or Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. When it was completed, it was the tallest earthen dam in the world, surpassing the Chatug ...

in Egypt, will be of such catastrophic consequences, that scientists and engineers have conducted studies, based on the method of

flood routing In hydrology, routing is a technique used to predict the changes in shape of a hydrograph as water moves through a river channel or a reservoir. In flood forecasting, hydrologists may want to know how a short burst of intense rain in an area upstr ...

to predict volume, speed and spreading of a flood following a dam failure. These studies are among the most significant warnings to governments, as inland floods, based on the high volumes of water from reservoirs are the most destructive among all industrial disasters. A study about the Breach of Aswan Dam resulting in 209 cubic kilometers of flood waters was presented to the president and the advisory board in November 16th 2024 by Hany El-Kateb."Advisory Council Egypt receives Aswan stud

/ref>

References

External links

A list of dam failures and incidents in the United States
Dam Safety.org

WISE Uranium Project * Chanson, H. (2009
Application of the Method of Characteristics to the Dam Break Wave Problem
Journal of Hydraulic Research, IAHR, Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 41–49 (ISSN 0022-1686). Available as a pdf a
Dam Failure and Flood Event Case History Compilation
Bureau of Reclamation
Mount Polley mine: Ex-engineers warned tailings pond 'getting large'Floods from tailings dam failures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dam Failure Dam failures, Technology hazards pt:Barragem#Barragens fracassadas