United States Society on Dams
Workshop on Levees

Workshop Recap

Introduction

USSD held a Workshop on Levees on October 12-15, 2009. Levees are currently an important topic both to the engineering community and to the public at large. The Workshop brought together experts from diverse areas (the private sector; academia; and federal, state and local government agencies) to present and discuss some of the principal issues associated with levees. Topics included the technical complexities associated with problem identification and analysis, the design and construction of mitigation measures, risk analysis, issues related to vegetation on levees, and levee certification.

Presentations

Workshop participants received handouts of some of the presentations. The following presentations are available in .pdf format:

Trees and Levees: How and Where Do Tree Roots Grow? by Alison M. Berry, University of California, Davis

Tolerable Risk for Levees Compared with Dams by David S. Bowles, Institute for Dam Safety Risk Management, Utah State University and RAC Engineers & Economists

California Levee Vegetation Research Program, by Peter E. F. Buck, Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency.

The Effects of Woody Vegetation on Levee Performance, by Maureen Corcoran, Corps of Engineers

Levee Research, by Chris Groves, Shannon & Wilson, Inc.

A Review of Our Legacy System, History of Neglect, Current Issues, and What We Hope to Accomplish, by Leslie F. Harder, Jr., HDR Engineering, Inc.

Evaluating California Central Valley Levee Systems, by Richard Millet, Sujan Punyamurthula and Juan Vargas, URS Corporation; and Mike Inamine, Steve Mahnke and Hamid Bonakdar, California Department of Water Resources

Relief Wells: History of Use in Memphis District, by Cory Williams, Corps of Engineers