最近50年来美国登记在册的土石坝和堆石坝事故多达100多起。70年代回填坝被毁事故更是频繁发生,联邦政府不得不对国内所有已建大坝的现状进行考察。据统计,6年内(1972～1977年)美国的大坝事故造成500人丧生,材料亏损近2亿美元。80年代末发生的最为严重的毁坝事故是爱达荷州93m 高、水库已首次蓄水的土石坝。1982年陆军工程师团对9000座非联邦大坝进行考察,其中300座大坝的现状不符合压力建筑物安全运行要求。 More than 100 U.S.-registered earth-rock dams and rockfill dam accidents have occurred in the past 50 years. The destruction of the backfill dam in the 1970s was even more frequent, and the federal government had to examine the status quo of all domestic dams it built. According to statistics, in the six years (1972-1977), a dam accident in the United States killed 500 people and caused a material loss of nearly 200 million U.S. dollars. The most serious dam-break in the late 1980s was a 93-foot-high dam in Idaho, where the reservoir was first impounded. In 1982, the Army Corps of Engineers inspected 9,000 non-federal dams, of which 300 dams did not meet the requirements of the safe operation of pressure buildings.