Some of the earliest levees were constructed by the Indus Valley civilization (in Pakistan and North India from circa 2600 BCE) on which the agrarian life of the Harappan peoples depended. [12] Levees were also constructed over 3,000 years ago in ancient Egypt, where a system of levees was built along the left bank of the River Nile for more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles), stretching from modern Aswan to the Nile Delta on the shores of the Mediterranean. The Mesopotamian civilizations and ancient China also built large levee systems. [13] Because a levee is only as strong as its weakest point, the height and standards of construction have to be consistent along its length. Some authorities have argued that this requires a strong governing authority to guide the work and may have been a catalyst for the development of systems of governance in early civilizations. However, others point to evidence of large-scale water-control earthen works such as canals and/or levees dating from before King Scorpion in Predynastic Egypt, during which governance was far less centralized. Needham, Joseph. (1971). Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Brian Lander. "State Management of River Dikes in Early China: New Sources on the Environmental History of the Central Yangzi Region." T’oung Pao 100.4–5 (2014): 325–62. For levees composed of pervious and impervious materials, there are three types of levee embankment constructions, classified according to the construction method used. These include compacted, semi-compacted, and uncompacted.

a b c Kemp, Katherine. The Mississippi Levee System and the Old River Control StructureThe Louisiana Environment. Tulane.eduThe final step in preparing a levee foundation is to remove and replace soft or organic spots with compacted material. Unless foundation surfaces are adversely affected by remolding, the foundation surfaces should be broken up to a death of at least 6 inches before the placement of the first lift of fill. This will ensure a good bond between the foundation and fill, and to eliminate a plane of weakness at the interface. During this process, the foundation should be drained.

In situations where undisturbed samples are either not being obtained or are difficult to obtained, in situ vane shear tests can be used to determine undrained shear strength. If shells or fibrous organic material are present, it can lead to errors in the test. Sometimes levees are said to fail when water overtops the crest of the levee. This will cause flooding on the floodplains, but because it does not damage the levee, it has fewer consequences for future flooding.Trilateral Working Group on Coastal Protection and Sea Level Rise (CPSL), Wadden Sea Ecosystem No. 25 by Jacobus Hofstede, Common Wadden Sea Secretariat (CWSS), Wilhelmshaven, Germany, 2009" (PDF). Waddensea-secretariat.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022 . Retrieved 3 April 2019. Displacement by end dumping is also a possibility for low levees that are constructed across sloughs and stream channels whose bottoms consist of very soft fine-grained soils. The depths of these deposits may not be large, yet the cost of removing them may not be justified. In this case, fill can be end-dumped from one side of the slough or channel. The weight of the fill will eventually displace the foundation soils to the sides and front so that the levee can be brought to grade. In this process, the fill should be advanced with a V-shaped leading edge so that the center of the fill is most advanced, displacing the soft material to both sides. The displaced material will generally come visible along the sides of the fill, and should not be removed. One disadvantage of this method is that all of the soft material may not be displaced, which could result in slides. The method of construction must also be considered when designing a levee. A levee may be built using no compaction to carefully controlled compaction, with steep slopes or relatively flat slopes. Levee maintenance is also a factor that must be weighed as part of the long-term viability of the project.

The App­ealing River Landscape - Green Rivers." Royal Haskoning. (Aug. 1, 2008) http://www.royalhaskoning.com/Royal_Haskoning/water_and_environment/ en-GB/Projects/Spatial/The+Appealing+River+Landscape+-+Green+Rivers.htm?ref=1 Clearing involves completely removing all objects and obstruction matter above the ground surface. This includes all trees, fallen timber, brush, vegetation, loose stone, abandoned structures, fencing, and other debris. The entire foundation area under the levee and berms should be cleared well in advance of any construction operations. Much of the Dutch levee system relies on the understanding that levees require regular maintenance, constant monitoring and a long-term appreciation for how rivers, oceans and storms behave. When these are in place, communities can thrive safely alongside the beauty and convenience of coastal and riverside areas. It's when we fail to remember this that rivers and oceans become destroyers. Koenig, Robert L. "Managing our rivers: Flood control is coordinated south of Cairo." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Aug. 29, 1993. Edward B. Perry (September 1998). "levee rehabilitation in USACE Technical Report REMR-GT-26, Innovative Methods for Levee Rehabilitation" (PDF). Dtic.mil. Archived from the original on 8 April 2013 . Retrieved 3 April 2019.Safety compromised by bureaucracy: No central agency was in charge of maintaining the levees. This task instead fell to several different private firms and government agencies, leading to communication problems and the breakdown of various upgrade projects. The modern word dike or dyke most likely derives from the Dutch word dijk, with the construction of dikes well attested as early as the 11th century. The 126-kilometer-long (78mi) Westfriese Omringdijk, completed by 1250, was formed by connecting existing older dikes. The Roman chronicler Tacitus mentions that the rebellious Batavi pierced dikes to flood their land and to protect their retreat (70 CE). [9] The word dijk originally indicated both the trench and the bank. It closely parallels the English verb to dig. [10] The comparison with the communion rail that separated the sanctuary in a church was not unintentional. The chambre du roi marked the centre of the château de Versailles.