If these pumps ever stop, part of Germany floods.
Tom Scott · 1 HN recommendations
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Tom Scott explains how decades of deep coal mining sank parts of Germany's Ruhr Valley and changed its drainage. Pumps run by Emschergenossenschaft must now work permanently to keep towns and cities from flooding.
Why HN recommends it: HN uses it as a well-known example of infrastructure that must run forever to keep an area habitable.