# Hoover Dam will last 10,000 years? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 16, 2018, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoover-dam-will-last-10-000-years/826241 "2018-12-16T23:02:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoover-dam-will-last-10-000-years/826241/21 "2018-12-17T17:09:37Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > How much “maintenance” does a billion tons of reinforced concrete really require? Certainly the flood gates, turbines and other moving parts require maintenance. But the structure itself is largely just a big rock. It’s not like engineers have to constantly patch it to keep it from disintegrating. Not sure about what sorts of things are currently being done, but major modifications had to be after since the dam was built, mainly to improve the interface between the dam and the surrounding topology. Structural integrity of the dam is impacted be water leaking around the sides of the dam and more critically be water leaking _under_ the dam, which leads to a phenomenon called [_uplift_](http://damfailures.org/lessons-learned/concrete-gravity-dams-should-be-evaluated-to-accommodate-full-uplift/). Eventually tectonic activity in the area will cause the failure of this interface and the dam will fail (unless as another poster has mentioned the Colorado River dries up enough that Lake Mead drops to a very low level. That said, even if the dam fails there will be one or more honking big chunks of concrete. Eventually the river will erode these away (it’s done a pretty good job of erosion a bit upstream from the dam) but that would be more on a geological time scale. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoover-dam-will-last-10-000-years/826241/22 "2018-12-17T17:32:24Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Not sure there is a comparable dam in the world to the Hoover wrt geologically stable and arid desert region. There are some big ones in Egypt, but I think the Nile will do those in much more rapidly. The [Glen Canyon Dam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Canyon_Dam) might be a good candidate. Upstream from the Grand Canyon, another arched concrete gravity dam. Actually used more concrete then Hoover Dam (5.4 million cubic yards vs. 4.4 million), but its profile is thinner and the surrounding geology is sandstone rather than granite. But still a honking big chuck of concrete in the desert. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoover-dam-will-last-10-000-years/826241/23 "2018-12-17T21:58:04Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Not sure there is a comparable dam in the world to the Hoover wrt geologically stable and arid desert region. There are some big ones in Egypt, but I think the Nile will do those in much more rapidly. The [Owyhee dam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owyhee_Dam) in (dry) SE Oregon was the “beta” dam for Hoover. Same design, construction methods, just smaller. So if Hoover will last 10,000 years Owyhee should last … 9,000 years? Oops, make that 8,996 years due to being 4 years older. As part of the Grand Coulee project in E. Washington an artificial holding lake was built using [two dams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_Falls_Dam) across a dry coulee. Water is pumped into the lake. If the pumping stops, the lake will probably eventually dry up (mainly due to seepage) and the two dams will just sit there. Wind erosion is going to take a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoover-dam-will-last-10-000-years/826241/24 "2018-12-17T22:06:08Z")
I love the Owhee Dam. Used to live near there. It’s my favorite [glory hole](https://cdn.onlyinyourstate.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/32159963204_95aa8629ed_k-e1492650246197.jpg)! ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoover-dam-will-last-10-000-years/826241/25 "2018-12-17T22:58:48Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > I love the Owhee Dam. Used to live near there. It’s my favorite [glory hole](https://cdn.onlyinyourstate.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/32159963204_95aa8629ed_k-e1492650246197.jpg)! Mmmm. That has “boating hazard” written all over it. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoover-dam-will-last-10-000-years/826241/26 "2018-12-17T23:11:15Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > I love the Owhee Dam. Used to live near there. It’s my favorite [glory hole](https://cdn.onlyinyourstate.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/32159963204_95aa8629ed_k-e1492650246197.jpg)! That looks like the [Lake Berryessa](https://www.rt.com/viral/378311-glory-hole-lake-berryessa/) Glory Hole in CA. [Here is the one at Lake Owyhee](http://pixdaus.com/lake-owyhee-glory-hole-glory-hole-lake-water/items/view/67824/). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoover-dam-will-last-10-000-years/826241/27 "2018-12-18T14:20:40Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Mmmm. That has “boating hazard” written all over it. There’s a floating barrier to keep the boaters away from that end of the reservoir. No doubt it’s not enough to keep the determined “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” folks out. I’ve heard tales of a guy falling into the Owyhee Project [siphon](https://picryl.com/media/the-longest-siphon-in-the-world-crosses-the-malheur-valley-it-carries-water)\* across the valley lower down, but none about the glory hole. - Pic from the 30s by Dorthea Lange. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoover-dam-will-last-10-000-years/826241/28 "2018-12-18T15:13:28Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I would only apply “structure” to something that humans actually built. That’s fair enough. Humans modified the floor at Meadowcroft, but it’s definitely a natural structure, not human-built. There are, of course, many examples of human-built underground structures, considerable traces of which are likely to last a lot more than 10,000 years. Here’s a [site that lists seven](https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/g3176/7-of-the-worlds-most-impressive-suberranain-structures/) of these, including one that’s already around 5000 years old. More substantial than any of those is the [Cheyenne Mountain complex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyenne_Mountain_Complex) built to withstand nearby large-yield nuclear detonations. Traces of this will probably persist at least several million years after humans stop paying attention to it. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoover-dam-will-last-10-000-years/826241/29 "2018-12-18T15:55:27Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Prolly not many. 10,000 years is a very long time. Seeing as how the Great Lakes are only 10-15k yrs old, a lot can happen in 10K years. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoover-dam-will-last-10-000-years/826241/30 "2018-12-18T16:50:16Z")
Someone should bump this thread then, zombie or not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoover-dam-will-last-10-000-years/826241.md?page=1)