Dangerous Dams

[camcamrich932]

it the water is so low why does it have enough power to drown you

[callmeshane303]

It's NOT that low head dams are dangerous, it's the design of the dam, that creates the danger.

And engineers can do really stupid things too - the over flow should be made to run over a crested "hill" and down a slope - gradually flaring into the full depth of the river or an appropriate width and depth for the flow - being the average river speed.

[HisBabiiGurl123]

Yea I'm glad you posted this I went down a dam before in a boating accident but I was in the water I could of died I'm only 13

[HisBabiiGurl123]

Yea I agree I went down a dam with nothing just my body I was lucky to survive my cuzin broke his leg and I'm only 13

[balandavis]

JanesWeeks: this is an incredible model and explains the dangers of low-head dams in an easy-to-see manner. As a person who has personally been trapped in a current under a low-head dam (and obviously and thankfully survived, I'd just like to say thanks for helping to educate people about these dangerous dams and show a possible solution.

drbucketmouth: Something tells me your no genius yourself - mainly your English and insensitivity to the fact that there are people such as myself that live

[ohiocanalgirl]

Dams are so dangerous glad you posted this

[KJ4VGT]

A quaint yet informative model of a dam. It really elucidates the dangers of Low head dams, and exibits a feasible solution for that death trap. I think it's a very nicely-constructed effigy of a dam!

[Drbucketmouth]

If and only if all the dumb ass stupid fucks of this world stop playing with the low head dams ( swimming or kyyaking on or near) will people stop being hurt or killed by them. Nuff said.

[saluteshell5]

i learned somthing in hunter saftey if you get caught in a low head damn relax and dont panic and when it brings you up take a deep breath and keep doing that it will eventually spit you out and you will drift to the surface down river

[eriktassmer]

you can scale down the kayaks an falls but your not scaling water molecules so your simulation is inaccurate.

[creeklax]

i ran that very dam a few days ago. piece of cake, just avoid the giant hands...

[Riha1]

where those tiny kayaks or french fries?

[aosfive]

14 people died a few days ago in Slovenia on a river Sava after getting caught in the current at a hydroelectric power plant in construction. This dams are killing machines, once they catch you the current will just keep you in circles...

[TimandPip]

Nice video, if only it were that simple in the real world.

[vladimir2277]

I don't run dams unless I am sure that there is no hole formed down there. The "stairs" is really one of the safer dams, although you should watch out for the shallow portions under it. The other one can be safe in low waterflow, when it's more of a dripping cascade than a dam.

If you know the basic safety rules and techniques, these dams can be quite fun.

[Aerofil123]

if u have a death wish, it may be fun.. no one should ever paddle dams.. I know I wouldnt

[vladimir2277]

This has nothing to do with having a death wish. It has to do with having the common sense and expertise to determine whether a dam is dangerous or not. There are dangerous dams out there, and there are ones that are safer than a drop of the same height on a river. You walk around the dangerous ones, and run the safe ones. If you are unsure, then you don't run it. This video shows a simplistic view of things, and is a good safely guideline. But in the real world, everything is more complicated.

[jayvatar]

Yeah I had a friend die from the result of a dam like this. He tried to swim across an area of water before the dam, got tired and then tried to go over the dam. He had no idea how dangerous the dam was. Basically he contiually cycled back to the waterfall portion eventually getting tired and drowning. Its strange how friendly they look but just how dangerous they can be.

[davebrads]

A bit simplistic. A body of fairly neutral buoyancy (such as a swimmer, or a swamped boat) would flush from the first dam. The yellow models represent a fully airbagged boat, which naturally would struggle to escape. The second dam is "canoe friendly" though, and dam builders should be aware of this.

[srynmsbntkn]

Good informative video! If more paddlers watched this video, they might just understand how a hydraulic works (ya know save some lives)!! Great Job!!..............wish I would of thought of it first LOL!!!!!!!!

[nomukaiki]

this video was very helpfull for a dam change study in Portugal. thank you

[JamesWeeks]

great to hear it. How is that going?

[PatrikMacGoohan]

Edutainmental!