If maintenance were interrupted (social upheaval) then Hoover too would fail. It take maintenance to keep it running - in particular mussels would foul and stop the turbines in a few seasons.

> If maintenance were interrupted (social upheaval) then Hoover too would fail.

Probably not in your lifetime let alone in a generation. Mosul's an issue because the substrate is not suitable for dam building (it's soluble gypsum, so it just keeps eroding because dam foundations kind-of tend to be around water) so the dam has to be continuously grouted to prevent it from failing.

Add Mosul holds 2.5 million people on a floodplain. When the dam fails catastrophically, it will be a bloodbath. It'll happen in the next few years.

They're not really comparable are they? It's not whether the turbines in the dam will continue to generate electricity, but whether or not the dam itself is structurally sound. My limited understanding is that the Mosul dam is not, while Hoover will outlast us.

The risk in the case of Mosul is failure of the dam face itself. Not merely the generating equipment.

Hoover faces no threats of similar magnitude.