The Most Dangerous Dams

Dams serve a wide variety of purposes from hydropower to flood control to storage of water for municipal and industrials uses. But when a dam’s useful purpose fades away, the structure itself still remains. Dams come in all shapes and sizes, but contrary to what you might think, the most dangerous dams are often the smallest, also known as low head dams.

Writing/Editing/Production: Grady Hillhouse

Tonic and Energy by Elexive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License

This video is sponsored by Squarespace.

[edthegoomba]

When I was a kid my granny always told me not to stand near the weir since I'll "get sucked under" if i fall in. I now know what she meant, thanks bud.

[Caesar]

Dam jokes aside for a moment, this is genuinely terrifying. The wood in the small-scale model really sends the point home.

[doodledeecloud]

Dams are sort of like roller coasters. The big, scary impressive ones are almost always are designed perfectly, with very low chance of failure. They're well maintained and kept up as to not cause disaster. But the small innocent ones are usually cheaper, not well kept up, and can go wrong and cause huge consequences.

[TREKLlN]

When I was 17 I got caught in a natural forming keeper while kayaking on the Colorado during high flow. Eventually popped out but it felt like I was under for 10 minutes despite it being 30 seconds. A truly terrifying experience.

[scottwhitesell]

This video should be shared everywhere. Simple, concise explanation that could save lives. Thanks for another great video, Grady.

[randywest]

As a recently retired civil engineer, I can say with some authority that was a truly excellent presentation, both technically and graphically.

[edwardsmith]

THIS video SPECIFICALLY should be shown as a public safety video in all areas that have these dams.
Not just because of public safety but because it reinforces the concept of Scientific Awareness™ of ones surroundings.
Imagine how much more engaging a boring public school science class brushing over fluid dynamics could be if you can show IN SECONDS just how deadly ignorance of it can be.

[willbernhardt]

Wow, this is genuinely terrifying. I’ve been an avid kayaker and canoer for years now, and I’ve shot just about every class rapids you can find in northern Canada and the boundary waters. Some buddies and I were joking about sending it over a small dam we found when paddling up in Minnesota one summer, but we just kind of brushed it off and decided a nice portage would be better. I know about the dangers of hydraulics in rapids, and I’m very good at spotting them and knowing how to avoid them, but I would have never even considered to be careful around such a small dam. This is a fantastic video, and needs to be shown to more people, if for no other reason than to spread awareness of this danger.

[shogged]

We have one of these in Calgary Alberta. When I was growing up, you’d hear about tourists dying every single summer because they didn’t know the dangers of the hydraulic jump. Now they’ve redone the dam and it’s been a few years since the last fatality.

[DanteYewToob]

I've always had a fear of deep dark water... but I'm slowly realizing that deep dark water might just be the safest water out there!
Safe looking shallow rivers can sweep you off your feet, inviting looking natural warm springs have brain eating parasites, wimpy looking small dams can drown you with ease, and even a small amount of water in a pipe other container can easily have the force to kill or seriously injure and destroy.

Water is scary.
I'm gonna keep a life vest near my toilet from now on. You can never be too safe! ;D

[boriscrisp]

"All these factors added together create a situation that is impossible to *lighthearted music plays*

[icefloe]

This channel literally motivated me to pursue a career in civil engineering. Submitting my BSc thesis next week, keep up the amazing and inspiring work, Brady!

[AuthenTech]

We had a few of those where I grew up, and I remember, very sadly, at least one (maybe more) people drowning in that exact scenario.. very small, shallow dam, but dangerous indeed. Great video, and definitely worth sharing.

[KeithHanlan]

If I was a teacher, I would show this video to every student in grade 7 and again in grade 10. I can't believe I survived to adulthood. This is a fabulous demonstration of a common peril and a fascinating phenomenon. Thank you Grady.

[SusiBiker]

As an ex-kayaker, was just trying to explain the hydraulic jump and why I always avoided water-boil on certain sections of rivers.
A perfect explanation of the dangers. Thank you.
Subbed.

[ChadBremer]

We had several low head dams near where I grew up. My dad had a great way to teach the dangers to us. We went down and he tossed large chunks of wood in above the dam and directly into the area behind it. Just we could see them get sucked under and pop back up in the turbulence. Most pieces stayed in the area for days or even weeks before disappearing.

[InTheFilth]

Have two of these dams on the river next to my apartment. Never knew how dangerous they were.

[АртёмМаринченко-цс]

I’ve been near one of those dams, the river was deep, and looking at the boiling point gave me chills.

[Turtle]

This is something I was warned about over and over ever since I was a little kid. In theory one escape technique is to swim out keeping at the bottom but good luck even having sense of up and down in that situation.

[mrplague]

The city I live in has a low dam on the south end of the city, it once helped raise the water level for the textile factories upstream. The textile industry left sometime in the 50's or 60's, but the damn remains. In the 1980's a teenager died while playing on the dam, and then 2 policeman died trying to save him.