The Hydrodynamic Efficiency of Non-Traditional Levee Protection Methods in the Sacramento River Delta

Abstract

Levee erosion and failure is a widespread environmental management problem. In many low-lying regions around the world, levees are the only line of protection against inundation. Erosion, as a result of natural and anthropogenic processes, reduces the structural integrity of levees and increases the threat of failure. Standard actions to mitigate levee erosion involve engineering responses, such as levee enlargement, bank armoring, or building flow-control structures. There are environments, however, where management objectives, such as recreation enhancement or habitat preservation, encourage non-traditional approaches to protection. This is the case for many of the waterways in the Delta region of California’s Central Valley.