> ...but we always forget that maintenance in perpetuity is much much harder...
Citation please; and who is this "we"? Major infrastructure failures are rare and large expensive assets are generally well looked after. This Mullaperiyar dam situation sounds very concerning, but it has failed more slowly than the empire that built it. It wasn't built this century and it wasn't built last century either. It was built the century before that.
It is not obvious why this situation has arisen, but it is pretty much certain that the builders of the dam have no regrets and didn't forget anything. Nor did people around the dam for many generations.
Citation please; and who is this "we"? Major infrastructure failures are rare and large expensive assets are generally well looked after. This Mullaperiyar dam situation sounds very concerning, but it has failed more slowly than the empire that built it. It wasn't built this century and it wasn't built last century either. It was built the century before that.
It is not obvious why this situation has arisen, but it is pretty much certain that the builders of the dam have no regrets and didn't forget anything. Nor did people around the dam for many generations.