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- Design high water level (HWL)
- Low water channel
- Flood channel
- Riverside slope
- Riverside banquette
- Levee crown
- Landside slope
- Landside banquette
- Berm
- Low water revetment
- Riverside land
- Levee
- Protected lowland
- River zone
A levee, or levée, is a raised bank of a river. The levee or dyke is a protection against floods.[1][2][3] There are two types of levee: riverdykes and seadykes.
The seadyke was invented in Holland in 1277. Rotterdam is largely below sea level, but is protected by its dykes. It is quite clear now that other coastal cities are going to need protection from the sea.
The first dykes were built in ancient Mesopotamia. The levees they used were earth walls and gave protection against the meltwater. 3000 years ago levees were used in ancient Egypt for irrigation systems.
'Levée' comes from the French verb lever, "to raise". Other names are 'floodbank' or 'stopbank'. It is a natural or artificial wall, usually earthen, and often parallels the course of a river. The term "levee" came into English use in New Orleans around 1672. The word 'dyke' or 'dike' comes from the Dutch word dijk.
The general term for devices such as dykes is "flood control". Another useful term is "embankment", which is used to build up banks of a river The lower River Thames was a broad, shallow waterway winding through malarious marshlands. It has been transformed into a deep, narrow tidal canal. Floods from the North Sea are held back at the Thames Barrier.
- ↑ Henry Petroski 2006. Levees and other raised ground. American Scientist 94 (1): 7–11. [1]
- ↑ "levee – meaning of levee in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English". Ldoceonline.com.
- ↑ "levee Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary". Dictionary.cambridge.org.