Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Weakening mechanisms imposed on California’s levees under multiyear extreme drought

  • Essay
  • Published:
Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

California is currently suffering from a multiyear extreme drought and the impacts of the drought are anticipated to worsen with climate change. The resilience of California’s critical infrastructure such as earthen levees under drought conditions is a major concern that is poorly understood. California maintains more than 21,000 km of urban and nonurban levees which protect dry land from floods and deliver two-thirds of the state’s drinking water. Many of these levees are currently operating under a high failure risk condition. This essay argues that California’s protracted drought can further threaten the integrity of these already at-risk levee systems through the imposition of several thermo-hydro-mechanical weakening processes. Pertinent facts and statistics regarding California’s drought and current status of its levees are presented. Lessons from previous catastrophic levee failures and major damages which occurred under similar events are discussed. Weakening processes such as soil-strength reduction, soil desiccation cracking, land subsidence and surface erosion, and microbial oxidation of soil organic carbon are comprehensively evaluated to illustrate the adverse impacts that the ongoing California drought can have on levees. This essay calls for further research in light of these potential drought-induced weakening mechanisms to support adaptation and mitigation strategies to possibly avert future levee failures. These weakening processes can threaten any drought-stricken infrastructure interfacing with soil, including embankments, roads, bridges, building foundations, and pipelines.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • AghaKouchak A, Cheng L, Mazdiyasni O, Farahmand A (2014) Global warming and changes in risk of concurrent climate extremes: insights from the 2014 California drought. Geophys Res Lett 41:8847–8852. doi:10.1002/2014GL062308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alsherif NA, McCartney JS (2015) Thermal behaviour of unsaturated silt at high suction magnitudes. Géotechnique 65(9):703–716. doi:10.1680/geot.14.P.049

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ASCE. (2015). Adapting infrastructure and civil engineering practice to a changing climate, Am Soc Civil Eng., doi:10.1061/9780784479193

  • Baram S, Kurtzman D, Dahan O (2012) Water percolation through a clayey vadose zone. J Hydrol 424–425:165–171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briaud, J., Chen, H., Govindasamy, A., and Storesund, R. (2008). Levee erosion by overtopping in New Orleans during the Katrina Hurricane. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 134(5):618–632

  • Brooks BA, Bawden G, Manjunath D, Werner C, Knowles N, Foster J, Dudas J, Cayan DR (2012) Contemporaneous subsidence and levee overtopping potential, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California. San Francisco Estuary Watershed Sci 10(1). http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/15g1b9tm. Accessed 10 April 2015

  • Cappa R, Yniesta S, Lemnitzer A, Brandenberg S, Shafiee A (2015) Settlement estimations of peat during centrifuge experiments. IFCEE 2015:152–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CDWR, (2011), Flood control system status report, central valley flood management planning (CVFMP) program, California department of water resources, state of California, December 2011. http://www.water.ca.gov/cvfmp/docs/FCSSRDec2011_FullDocument.pdf

  • Conant R, Ryan M, Agren G, Birge H, Davidson E, Eliasson P, Evans S, Frey S, Giardina C, Hopkins F, Hyvonen R, Kirschbaum M, Lavallee J, Leifeld J, Parton W, Steinweg M, Wallenstein M, Martin W, Bradford M (2011) Temperature and soil organic matter decomposition rates – synthesis of current knowledge and a way forward. Glob Chang Biol 17:3392–3404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CRS (2011). Locally operated levees: issues and federal programs. congressional research service (Available in: https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41752.pdf)

  • Davidson EA, Janssens IA (2006) Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change. Nature 440:165–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diffenbaugh NS, Swain DL, Touma D (2015) Anthropogenic warming has increased drought risk in California. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 112:3931–3936

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dixon TH, Amelung F, Ferretti A, Novali F, Rocca F, Dokka R, Sella G, Kim SW, Wdowinski S, Whitman D (2006) Subsidence and flooding in New Orleans. Nature 441:587–588

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunbar, J., Llopis, J., Sills, G., Smith, E., Miller, R., Ivanov, J., and Corwin, R. (2007). Condition assessment of Levees, U.S. section of the international boundary and water commission. Technical Report No. TR-03-4, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, geotechnical and structures laboratory, Vicksburg, MS, 332

  • Dyer MR, Utili S, Zielinski M (2009) Field survey of desiccation fissuring of flood embankments. Water Manag 162(3):221–232

    Google Scholar 

  • Farr TG, Jones C, Liu Z (2015) Progress report: subsidence in the Central Valley. California, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Hao Z, AghaKouchak A, Nakhjiri N, Farahmand A (2014) Global integrated drought monitoring and prediction system. Sci Data 1:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hubble T, Rutherford I (2010) Evaluating the relative contributions of vegetation and flooding in controlling channel widening: the case of the Nepean River, Southeastern Australia. Aust J Earth Sci 57(5):525–541

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hubble T, De Carli E (2015) Mechanisms and processes of the millennium drought river bank failures: Lower Murray River, South Australia. Tech. Rep. Series No. 15/5, Goyder Institute for Water Research, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

  • Hubble T, De Carli E, Airey D (2014) Geomechanical modeling of the Murray’s millennium drought river bank failures: a case of the unexpected consequences of slow drawdown, soft bank materials and anthropogenic change. In: Vietz G, Rutherfurd ID, Hughes R (eds) Proceedings of the 7th Australian Stream Management conference. Townsville, Queensland, pp. 278–284

    Google Scholar 

  • Hudacsek P, Bransby MF, Hallett PD, Bengough AG (2009) Centrifuge modelling of climatic effects on clay embankments. Eng Sustain 2:91–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liang C, Jaksa MB, Kuo YL, Ostendorf B (2015) Identifying areas susceptible to high risk of riverbank collapse along the lower River Murray. Comput Geotech 69:236–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu N, Likos WJ (2006) Suction stress characteristic curve for unsaturated soil. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 132(2):131–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu N, Kim TH, Sture S, Likos WJ (2009) Tensile strength of unsaturated sands. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 135(12):1410–1419

    Google Scholar 

  • Lund, J., Hanak, E., Fleenor, W., Howitt, R., Mount, J., and Moyle, P. (2007). Envisioning futures for the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. San Francisco (CA): Public Policy Institute of California, 285

  • Maciag, M. (2011). New Levee database lists inspection ratings, other details. governing (October 27 [online]. Available at http://www.governing.com/blogs/by-the-numbers/levee-database-lists-inspection-ratings-other-details.html)

  • Mount, J., and Twiss, R. (2005). Subsidence, sea level rise, seismicity in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. San Francisco Estuary Watershed Sci, 3(1): http://repositories.cdlib.org/jmie/sfews/vol3/iss1/art5

  • NOAA (2015). Climate at a glance, time series, National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). National oceanic and atmospheric administration 〈http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/〉 (Jun. 21, 2015)

  • NRC (2012) Dam and levee safety and community resilience: A vision for future practice. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, National Research Council

    Google Scholar 

  • Péron H, Herchel T, Laloui L, Hu LB (2009) Fundamentals of desiccation cracking of fine-grained soils: experimental characterization and mechanisms identification. Can Geotech J 46:1177–1201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reid RL (2013) Defending New Orleans. Civil Engineering: the Magazine Of The American Society of Civil Engineers 48–67(Nov.)

  • Reinert E, Stewart JP, Moss RES, Brandenberg SJ (2014) Dynamic response of a model levee on Sherman Island Peat: A curated data set. Earthquake Spectra 30(2):639–656

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sehat S, Vahedifard F, Aanstoos JV, Dabbiru L, Hasan K (2014) Using in situ soil measurements for analysis of a polarimetric synthetic aperture radar-based classification of levee slump slides on the lower Mississippi River. Eng Geol 181:157–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shukla S, Safeeq M, AghaKouchak A, Guan K, Funk C (2015) Temperature impacts on the Water year 2014 drought in California. Geophys Res Lett. doi:10.1002/2015GL063666

    Google Scholar 

  • Skempton AW, Schuster RL, Petley DJ (1969) Joints and fissures in the London clay at wraysburg and Edgware. Géotechnique 19(2):205–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang C, Shi B, Lui C, Gao L, Inyang H (2011) Experimental investigation of the desiccation cracking behavior of soil layers during drying. J Mat Civ Eng 23(6):873–878

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor M (2015) Achieving state goals for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. In: Legislative Analyst’s office (LAO). State Legislature, Sacramento, CA, California

    Google Scholar 

  • Uchaipichat A, Khalili N (2009) Experimental investigation of thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of an unsaturated silt. Géotechnique 59(4):339–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vahedifard, F., and Robinson, J. D. (2015). A unified method for estimating the ultimate bearing capacity of shallow foundations in variably saturated soils under steady flow. J. Geotech Geoenviron Eng, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001445, 04015095.

  • Vahedifard, F., AghaKouchak, A., Robinson. J. (2015a). Drought threatens California’s Levees. Science 349(6250):799. doi:10.1126/science.349.6250.799-a

  • Vahedifard, F., Leshchinsky, B., Mortezaei, K., and Lu, N. (2015b). Active earth pressures for unsaturated retaining structures. J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., ASCE, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001356, 04015048

  • Vahedifard F., Robinson J.D., & AghaKouchak A. (2016a). Can protracted drought undermine the structural integrity of California’s earthen Levees? J Geotech Geoenviron Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001465, 02516001

  • Vahedifard, F., Leshchinsky, D., Mortezaei, K., and Lu, N. (2016b). Effective stress-based limit equilibrium analysis for homogenous unsaturated slopes. Int J Geomech, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000554, D4016003

  • Vahedifard F, Mortezaei K, Leshchinsky BA, Leshchinsky D, Lu N (2016c) Role of suction stress on service state behavior of geosynthetic-reinforced soil structures. Transportation Geotechnics. doi:10.1016/j.trgeo.2016.02.002

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Baars S (2005) The horizontal failure mechanism of the wilnis peat dyke. Géotechnique 55(4):319–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vardon P (2015) Climatic influence on geotechnical infrastructure: A review. Env. Geotechnics 2(3):166–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vicuña, S., M. Hanemann, and L. Dale. (2006). Economic impacts of delta levee failure due to climate change: a scenario analysis. University of California, Berkeley for the California energy commission, PIER energy-related environmental research. CEC-500-2006-004

  • Zhu TJ, Lund JR, Jenkins MW, Marques GF, Ritzema RS (2007) Climate change, urbanization, and optimal long-term floodplain protection. Water Resour Res 43(6):W06421. doi:10.1029/2004WR003516

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank John Peters, Stefan Van Baars, Tom Hubble, Elyssa De Carli, Amir AghaKouchak, and Aredeshir Adeli for their constructive comments and suggestions. Moreover, we thank Ashley McDonald for helping us to develop Fig. 4.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Terracon Consultants, Inc., Chattanooga, TN, 37406, USA

    Joe D. Robinson

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, USA

    Joe D. Robinson & Farshid Vahedifard

Authors
  1. Joe D. Robinson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Farshid Vahedifard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Farshid Vahedifard.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Robinson, J.D., Vahedifard, F. Weakening mechanisms imposed on California’s levees under multiyear extreme drought. Climatic Change 137, 1–14 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1649-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1649-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation