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Iraq's Mosul Dam Could Burst At Any Time (blastingnews.com)

MarkWhittington writes: The Mosul Dam, located near the city of Mosul in Northern Iraq, was started by Saddam Hussein in 1981 as a way to bolster his regime and provide power to the surrounding area. It was completed in 1986 and has since generated 3,420 gigawatt/hours per year. Unfortunately, the dam was built on an unstable foundation of gypsum and thus needs constant repairs to plug leaks and maintain its structural integrity. Even more unfortunately, such repair efforts have stopped since the Islamic State seized control of Mosul. The dam could burst at any time, as a consequence. The flood could kill a million people and render a million more homeless. Radio Free Europe reports that Italy's Trevi Group has been contracted to repair and maintain the dam, but it seems like there's a lot to catch up with. (Also at The Guardian and Mother Jones.)

4 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds like a dam big problem by innocent_white_lamb · · Score: 4, Funny

    Come hell or high water, this should be dealt with pretty dam fast.

    --
    If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
  2. Re: could? by AuMatar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because we aren't barbarians who would kill a million innocent civilians for a pr win

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    I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
  3. Cry me a river by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cry me a river ... oh wait!

  4. Re:and? by AlterEager · · Score: 4, Funny

    Great posting sabotaged by Slashdot's 1990's level unicode support.