BP + Katrina + Raw Sewage? Welcome To “The Crumbling of America”

“Bad things happen when an empire allows its infrastructure to decline.” That’s the gist of the History Channel’s terrifying documentary, The Crumbling of America, which ran this morning just to offer some cheery fodder for a holiday weekend. The documenary is from 2009, but it amidst the staggering damage of the BP oil spill it could not be more timely as the nation gapes at the massive catastrophe still unfolding in the Gulf and looks back on how it might have been prevented.

The backward-look happens after every catastrphe — the blame game and the finger-pointing of who should have known and why wasn’t this looked after — but The Crumbling of America is ahead of that process for the nation’s bridges, roads, dams, tunnels, sewage systems and everything else that holds the country together, and it’s pretty damn scary.

The scariest part: Knowing that it will be largely ignored until the next catastrophe happens.

“Design flaws, not enough money, normal corrosion, and decades of deferred maintenance have conspired to bring America’s infrastructure down,” intones the voiceover who could well be doubling for the trailer for 2012.

Take the dams. “There are 85, 000 dams in the U.S.,” says the narrator, as the camera pans over a sparkling-blue sampling. “Four thousand of them are unsafe. And 1800 of those are high hazard dams – dams that are likely to kill people if they fail.” We are informed that the number of unsafe high-hazard dams has quadrupled since 2001.

Here’s some more to freak you out:

Inspections are critical…and yet, states have cut inspection programs to the bone. In 2007, the last year for which statistics are available, Texas had just 7 inspectors responsible for 7,400 dams. That’s over 1,050 dams per inspector. The state was only able to look at 239 dams. That same year, Iowa had one full-time and one part-time inspector. Overseeing 3,344 dams. They were only able to inspect 128 dams. Alabama doesn’t even have an inspection agency to monitor its 2,000-plus dams. Adding to the danger are thousands of ‘orphan dams’ – those abandoned by corporations and private owners with no one left in charge.

Never mind the revolting dangers posed by a crumbling sewage system. I would not advise anyone to move to St. Louis any time soon.

I’m not a horror flick person, so I never saw Wolf Creek. But this, about the Wolf Creek Dam in Kentucky, sounds pretty damn scary:

Five major dams in the eastern U.S. were also built on porous limestone in the 1930s. At the time, dam designers didn’t understand the ramifications of porous foundations. But Wolf Creek may well be the most hazardous. If it failed, 6 million acre-feet of water in Lake Cumberland would pour into the Cumberland River, rushing downstream at 40 feet per second, and flooding towns and cities for hundreds of miles. 6 million acre feet is enough to cover the entire state of New Jersey with a foot of water. Scores would be killed, and damage would run into the billions.

Ironically, The Crumbling of America goes on to map out how the overflow would be carried to the next urban center downstream: Nashville. It shows the doomsday Nashville flood scenario: “The heart of Music City, USA is 20 feet underwater.” It’s is shocking to see and meant to freak the watcher out – except since this documentary was made, Nashville under water has happened. To middling media interest, thanks to other distractions. That does not bode well for media interest in covering these other infrastructure issues — especially before they happen. Yawn.

The Crumbling of America goes into similarly scary detail on sewage (“Nationwide, the United States has more than one million miles of sewage pipes…and much of that vast system consists of heavily leaking pipes like these”), bridges (“In the next 10 years,,, over 50% of our bridges will be over 50 years old”), roads (“America’s roads and highways are heading for a crash…33 Percent of our major highways are in poor or mediocre condition. The road system that we’ve come to depend on, the road system that we built our wealth on and our power on is falling apart. It’s literally falling apart”) and levees (“America’s levees are also falling apart and the crisis extends far beyond New Orleans”). Apparently they’re talking to you, California. Best of luck.

Remember the Minneapolis bridge collapse? Does the media? Does the administration? Do the administrations of each of the states? There are so many things that can go wrong — and this BP episode is such a scary test case of how badly things can screw up.

The Crumbling of America should be required viewing for local and national government, not to mention the local and national media who should be keeping their feet to the fire on guarding against disaster. If you don’t believe me, give it a watch. Make no mistake about it: The Crumbling of America will scare the sewage out of you.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.