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I agree.
Engineering makes decisions all the time about trade offs. You can spend lots of money over engineering a structure so it lasts a very very long time. But then you can't spend that money on other projects.
Lately (in the last decade) there has been a big push by authorities to make smaller dams able to withstand 100 year floods. (Or may it's 500 year floods, I don't remember). I think with climate change this is a smart approach. But I know of two lakes this has impacted. One is on Goshen VA and the Boy Scouts had to spend millions to upgrade a dam. The other is NEPA where I have a relative who owns a house on a pond. The state drained the pond because there was no money to fix the dam. Now they live on a meadow full of ragweed and deer ticks with a small creek running through it.
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