Simon Uncovered | America's Infrastructure Crisis

The Warning Signs

The Crisis They're Not Reporting

Behind closed doors, engineers are sounding the alarm.

⚠️

Aging Infrastructure

Over 2,300+ high hazard dams are operating beyond their intended lifespan. One stress event could trigger catastrophic failures.

🌊

Water Supply Collapse

Lake Mead & Powell are inching close to "dead pool" status, threatening water and power for millions in the Southwest.

🔇

Bureaucratic Silence

A 104-year river math error has led to massive overallocation and systemic neglect by oversight agencies.

Inside The Reports

What You'll Discover

Actionable intelligence from hundreds of official inspection reports and FOIA documents.

✓Whether your home is in a dam inundation zone — and what to do about it

✓The exact timeline for Lake Mead & Powell reaching "dead pool" status

✓How to decode FEMA flood maps and NID database entries for any dam in America

✓The engineering failures behind history's 10 deadliest dam disasters

✓USBR forecasts for the next 10 years of Colorado River water supply

✓How to file FOIA requests to obtain inspection reports for dams near you

The Reports

Choose Your Investigation

Pick a single report or grab the bundle and save $30.

America's Most Dangerous Dams

$29$14SAVE 52%

50-state risk hazard data
NID database lookup guide
FEMA flood map decoding

Download for $14

The Colorado River Crisis

$47$24SAVE 49%

Lake Mead & Powell dead pool math
Hoover Dam intake tower air scenario
USBR 10-year forecasts

Download for $24

How Dams Fail

$57$29SAVE 49%

10 forensic disaster autopsies
Structural mechanics & stress diagrams

Download for $29

The Smart Choice

Buy Separately, or Get Everything for Less

The bundle costs less than 2 of the 3 books — and unlocks the combined edition.

	Buy Separately	★ Best ValueComplete Bundle
America's Most Dangerous Dams	$14	✓
The Colorado River Crisis	$24	✓
How Dams Fail	$29	✓
3-in-1 Combined PDF Edition	✗	✓
50 state risk assessments	Split across books	✓ All included
10 forensic dam-failure autopsies	Book 3 only	✓ All included
Lifetime data updates	✗	✓
You pay	$67	$37

⚡ Get The Complete Bundle — $37 You save $30 + get the combined edition free

What's Inside

Everything Inside All 3 Books

221 pages across three illustrated reports — the complete chapter breakdown, book by book.

1

How Dam Hazard Ratings Actually Work

The two independent rating systems, the risk matrix they form, and how to read the combination correctly.

2

The Deficient Backlog & The Blank Records

Inspection shortfalls, hydrologic obsolescence, and the thousands of structures with no condition rating at all.

3

Anatomy Of A Dam, Anatomy Of A Record

A labelled cross-section, the three dominant failure modes, and a field-by-field guide to the NID record.

4

The Critical Watchlist

Fifty structures that have triggered federal or state emergency-level action — what the concern was, and what has been done about it.

5

The West & Southwest

Seismic retrofit backlogs, atmospheric rivers after drought, and post-wildfire debris flows.

6

The Southeast & East Coast

Cascade failures in the Carolinas, the Gulf hurricane test, and Appalachia's industrial legacy.

7

The Midwest, Plains & Pacific Northwest

The 2020 Michigan failures, the low-head dams nobody classifies, and saturated levee systems.

8

Look Up Your Own Dam

The full lookup procedure, the records-request script that gets an inundation map released, and a one-page Dam Dossier worksheet.

9

The Funding Gap

Rehabilitation costs, the private-ownership trap, federal grant programs, and the removal debate.

10

Your Household Plan

A 30-day preparedness plan, go-bag checklist, and the one-page plan for the refrigerator.

+

Appendices

Glossary, full source list, and a directory of every state dam safety office with the four questions to ask.

1

The 1922 Error

A river divided using the wettest measurement window in a thousand years — and the structural deficit it created.

2

Why Reservoirs Fail Faster Than They Fill

Canyon geometry, the evaporation penalty, and why the last third of a reservoir is the hardest to keep.

3

Lake Mead, Foot By Foot

The full elevation ladder — every shortage tier, the intakes, minimum power pool, and dead pool, with what stops working at each.

4

Lake Powell, Foot By Foot

Glen Canyon's 35-foot buffer and the outlet works nobody designed for continuous use.

5

What Actually Breaks

Turbines, intakes, canals, and the grid — the physical failure sequence as elevations fall.

6

The Law Of The River

A century of compacts, treaties, and decrees — and the 2026 expiry that forces the whole thing open.

7

Where The Water Actually Goes

Roughly three-quarters to agriculture. Why urban conservation cannot close the gap.

8

What This Costs You

Water bills, food prices, electricity rates, property values — state by state.

9

Solutions, Honestly Ranked

What moves millions of acre-feet, what moves thousands, and what is engineering fantasy.

10

Your Household Water Plan

A supply audit worksheet and reductions ranked by actual effect.

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Appendices

Glossary, live-data sources that stay accurate after publication, and a one-page quick reference card.

1

The Forces On A Dam

Hydrostatic pressure, uplift, and the three dam families — with the failure mode each one is prone to.

2

Malpasset, France, 1959

The most elegant thin arch dam in the world, destroyed by a fault plane nobody had mapped. 423 dead.

3

Vajont, Italy, 1963

The dam survived intact. Nearly two thousand people died anyway.

4

Banqiao, China, 1975

A storm beyond the design basis and a cascade of 62 dams — the deadliest structural failure in history.

5

Teton, Idaho, 1976

A brand-new federal dam destroyed by internal erosion in a single morning — and the filter rule that followed.

6

South Fork, Pennsylvania, 1889

Johnstown: every safety margin removed, deliberately, one at a time.

7

St. Francis, California, 1928

Inspected and declared safe hours before it collapsed.

8

Gleno, Italy, 1923

Bad concrete, a design changed mid-build, and 356 dead.

9

Machchu-2, India, 1979

Inflow three times the spillway's capacity — and no warning system.

10

Oroville, California, 2017

The dam never failed. Its spillways nearly did, and 188,000 people were told to leave.

11

Mosul, Iraq — Ongoing

A dam on rock that dissolves, kept standing by continuous grouting since the day it was finished.

12

The Near-Misses

Lower San Fernando, Buffalo Creek, Baldwin Hills, Edenville — the cases that shaped practice without headline death tolls.

13

What The Case Files Have In Common

Six recurring patterns, defence in depth, and why the remaining problem is institutional rather than technical.

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Appendices

Full chronology of major failures, glossary, and the primary investigation reports behind every case.

About Simon Uncovered

Investigative Infrastructure Journalist

Simon Uncovered started as a deep-dive YouTube channel dedicated to exposing the engineering, environmental, and bureaucratic failures underlying America's critical infrastructure.

After months of reading hundreds of FOIA documents, structural inspection reports, and hydrological forecasts, I compiled this data into accessible, highly detailed reports so citizens can understand the true risks in their own backyards.

📺 Watch The YouTube Channel →

What Readers Say

People Are Talking

Here's what readers think after going through the reports.

★★★★★

"I live downstream from a high-hazard dam and had no idea until I read this. The NID lookup guide alone was worth the price — I checked every dam within 30 miles of my house."

Marcus T.Homeowner, Tennessee

★★★★★

"The Colorado River chapter blew my mind. I knew things were bad, but seeing the actual USBR forecasts laid out with the dead pool math — everyone in the Southwest needs to read this."

Rachel K.Phoenix, AZ

★★★★★

"Finally someone who cites actual sources instead of clickbait. I verified three of the claims myself through the NID database — all checked out. This is real investigative work."

David L.Civil Engineering Student

Before You Buy

Frequently Asked Questions

In what format are the books delivered?+

All books and reports are delivered instantly as high-quality PDF downloads.

Do I need an engineering background?+

No. The data is broken down in plain English with diagrams and visual aids.

Can I read these on my phone, tablet, or Kindle?+

Yes. The PDFs open on any phone, tablet, laptop, or e-reader — no special app required. Read them anywhere, keep them forever.

What exactly do I get with the bundle?+

All 3 full investigative reports as individual PDFs plus a 3-in-1 combined edition — 50 state risk assessments, 10 forensic dam-failure autopsies, and step-by-step lookup guides for FEMA maps and the NID database.

Are the files updated?+

Yes, bundle owners receive lifetime updates when new data is released.

How do I access my purchase?+

Right after checkout, open the Files section of your Whop account — all your PDFs are there to download instantly, on any device.

Is my payment secure?+

Yes, all payments use Stripe's enterprise-grade encryption via Whop.

3 Complete Ebooks

50 Dam Assessments

10 Forensic Autopsies

Instant Access

The Crisis They're Not Reporting

Aging Infrastructure

Water Supply Collapse

Bureaucratic Silence

What You'll Discover