The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers adopted state-of-the-art technology that could protect America's crumbling dams from growing threats of climate change, TechInformed reported.
With nearly 92,000 dams across the U.S., many built over a century ago, the risk of collapse from extreme weather induced by a warming planet is rising. Last June, the Rapidan Dam in Minnesota flooded, resulting in a "partial failure" that led to power outages, Fox 9 reported.
The stakes for infrastructural damage are high — 85% of U.S. dams have exceeded their life expectancy, and renovations are estimated to cost a whopping $64 billion, according to TechInformed.
To tackle this, the Army Corps of Engineers partnered with Dataforensics and Bentley Systems to use OpenGround, a platform for geotechnical data. OpenGround allows the Corps to centralize and standardize $500 million of subsurface data from over 200,000 boreholes drilled into the ground.
Subsurface data refers to geological conditions like soil, rock, and groundwater below the earth's surface — information that's key to addressing dam failures. That way, dam data can be easily accessed and assessed during emergencies, resulting in faster, more accurate responses to crises.
The results were promising. During a recent seepage of an aging dam, the Corps relied on the newly centralized system to locate critical data "within minutes," visualize it using geographic tools, and provide emergency workers with actionable insights, helping avert a life-threatening emergency, Dataforensics President Scott Deaton told TechInformed.
Still, moving all that data to a new system wasn't easy. "Shifting from a paper-based approach to a modern system required significant effort," Deaton said.
Centralizing hordes of data from 8,500 projects took 3,000 hours, which would've taken 60,000 hours without automation. Beyond data migration, the Corps provided three years of training to more than 400 staff members so the system could be adopted across the entire organization.
The OpenGround system demonstrates how smart tech can protect aging infrastructure from catastrophic damage. Increasing emergency preparedness for compromised dams can save lives, protect homes, and reduce the likelihood of mass displacement when disaster strikes, protecting frontline communities' mental health.
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The technology also promotes sustainability. By minimizing the need for new drilling, OpenGround reduces environmental disturbances that could increase erosion, contaminate groundwater, generate waste, and pollute the air.
OpenGround joins a growing list of emerging green technologies that could provide creative solutions to environmental protection. One University of Missouri researcher developed a cooling system that could reduce the temperature of power-hungry data centers that power artificial intelligence, lowering energy usage. Chemical companies created machines they claim convert carbon emissions sucked from the air into packaging materials like shipping labels, reducing pollution.
As climate change accelerates and dams face mounting pressures, innovations like OpenGround offer a blueprint for resilience. While not a quick fix, this system provides the Army Corps of Engineers with tools to save aging infrastructure, ensuring safer living conditions for millions of Americans.
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