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The side of a levee in Sacramento, California. A levee (/ ˈ l ɛ v i / or / ˈ l ɛ v eɪ /), [a] [1] dike (American English), dyke (British English; see spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural or artificial, alongside the banks of a river, often intended to protect against flooding of the area adjoining the river.
Modern zoned-earth embankments employ filter and drain zones to collect and remove seep water and preserve the integrity of the downstream shell zone. An outdated method of zoned earth dam construction used a hydraulic fill to produce a watertight core. Rolled-earth dams may also employ a watertight facing or core in the manner of a rock-fill dam.
The Netherlands has a large area of polders: as much as 20% of the land area has at some point in the past been reclaimed from the sea, thus contributing to the development of the country. IJsselmeer is the most famous polder project of the Netherlands. Some other countries which have polders are Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada and China.
Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railway, or canal across a low-lying or wet area; Embankment dam, a dam made of mounded earth and rock; Land reclamation along river banks, usually marked by roads and walkways running along it, parallel to the river, as in:
By placing these embankments somewhat back from the margin of the river-bed, a wide flood-channel is provided for the discharge of the river as soon as it overflows its banks, while leaving the natural channel unaltered for the ordinary flow. Low embankments may be sufficient where only exceptional summer floods have to be excluded from meadows.
Cattle grazing below high water, Isle of Dogs, 1792 (Robert Dodd, detail: National Maritime Museum) The Embanking of the tidal Thames is the historical process by which the lower River Thames, at one time a shallow waterway, perhaps five times broader than today, winding through malarious marshlands, has been transformed by human intervention into a deep, narrow tidal canal flowing between ...
Most flood embankments are between 1 metre and 3 metres high. A 5-metre-high (16 ft) flood embankment is rare. [1] Modern improvements to this design include constructing an internal central core made from impermeable substance like clay or concrete, some even use metal pilings. [2] Some authorities call man-made structures levees.
Water rising above a canal's full capacity may cause flooding to spread to other waterways and areas of the community, which causes damage. Defenses (both long-term and short-term) can be constructed to minimize damage, which involves raising the edge of the water with levees, embankments or walls. The high population and value of ...