DIKES AND LEVEES

A dike normally runs along or parallel to a body of water such as a river or a

sea, a dam runs across or through a body of water. A dike has water only on one
side; a dam has water on both sides. The main purpose of a dike is protecting the
land behind it from flooding (closing dike), whereas a dams’ purpose is to retain
the water.

Dikes and levees are embankments constructed to prevent flooding. Levees

may be formed naturally or artificially. They prevent the water from overflowing
and flooding surrounding areas.

DIKES – a dike or dyke, in geological usage, is a sheet of rock that is formed in a

fracture in a pre-existing rock body. Dikes can be either magmatic or sedimentary
in origin.

These are employed to direct the flaw of current in rivers with a view to the
establishment of more favourable and fixed channel and often also to prevent
scour and erosion and the carrying away of rivers bank.

Dikes are walls that hold back the sea. The land would be flooded if the dikes
were broken down. The dikes were first built to reclaim land from the sea. In
countries like Egypt and Bangladesh they will be needed, when the sea levels raise
as it is predicted.
- A dike is a barrier used to regulate or hold back water from a river, lake,
or even the ocean. In geology, a dike is a large slab of rock that cuts
through another type of rock.
- Dikes used to hold back water are usually made of earth. Sometimes,
dikes occur naturally. More often, people construct dikes to prevent
flooding. When constructed along river bank, dikes control the flow of
water
- A dike has water only on one side, a dam has water on both sides. The
main purpose of a dike is protecting the land behind it from flooding
(closing dike), whereas a dams’ purpose is to retain the water. Dikes and
levees are embankments constructed to prevent flooding.
- While these structures are more or less permanent ones, dikes are also
quite often built to prevent or reduce flood damage caused by
overflowing rivers that may enter inhabited.
- More often, people construct dikes to prevent flooding. When
constructed along river banks, dikes control the flow of water. By
preventing flooding, dikes force the river to flow more quickly and with
 greater force. The most familiar material used to build or augment dikes
is the sandbag.
- Natural sand dunes and constructed dikes, dams, and floodgates provide
defence against storm surges from the sea. In modern times, flood
disasters coupled with technological developments have led a large
construction works to reduce the influence of the sea and prevent
future floods.
- Dikes used to hold back water are usually made of earth. Sometimes,
dikes occur naturally. More often, people construct dikes to prevent
flooding. When constructed along river banks, dikes control the flow of
water.
SPUR DIKES – these are employed to regulate and direct the current of the river
by contracting the flow area and causing a scour and lateral deposition of material
behind or in between dikes.

PERMEABLE DIKES – merely used to slacken and retard the current flow instead
of cutting of or diverting

Dike is a construct created to prevent flooding in the plains dilindungi

Bagaimanapun, dikes also impede the flow of river water, a loran produces more
and higher water level. Dikes can also be found along the coast, where the dune /
dune sand beaches are not strong enough, along the river to protect the flood,
along the lake or polder. Dikes were also made for the purpose emboldening /
form the boundaries of protection to an area that is inundated with a military
protection. Earthwork levees could be permanent or only emergency
construction, usually made of sand bags so quickly during the flood.

Based on the functions and dimensions of the place as well as the materials used
and the local topography, embankments DAPT distinguished as follows:

a.) The Main Dike

Building levees along both sides of the river to accommodate flood

discharge plan.

b.) Secondary Dike

Dikes were built parallel to the main dike, well above the riverbank in front
of the main dike called the summer or in the back levees utam functioning for the
second defense, suppose happens break-in at the main dike. Depending on the
importance of a protected area sometimes also built dikes tertiary.
c.) Embankment

In rivers rushing current, usually DAPT built dikes that are not continuous,
but intermittent. Thus the high flood peak but the time period can be cut short,
because most of the flood flows out through the gaps between the embankments
are entering areas behind levees prepared for temporary flood shelters, usually
the shelter areas surrounded by levees anyway.

After the flood subsided, the water being stored, and then flows back into the
river through these gaps. So it is not necessary to the doors or spillway as well as
other complementary buildings. In addition to the above three examples
Tanggula, there are still some dikes, including; dividing embankment,
embankment circular, transverse dike, levee steering, levees around,
embankment edge, specialized dike and levee behind.

Stability Embankment

In general, the cause of damage to the dike body is as follows:

a.) Establishment of continuous sliding plane due to slope too steep embankment.

b.) The occurrence of the collapse of the embankment slope due to saturation of
water in the body of the embankment caused by seepage of water during a flood
or upon the occurrence of continuous rainfall.

c.) The occurrence of leaks in the foundation of the dike.

d.) Tergerusnya front slope embankment by the river currents.

e.) The occurrence of runoff on mercu embankment.

f.) The occurrence of a shift in the foundation caused by the earthquake.

LEVEES – a levee, dike, dyke, embankment, flood bank or stop bank is an
elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which
regulates water levels.

An embankment built along the side of the rivers to prevent the overflow of
banks and thus to protect the adjoining land from flood waters.

A levee is a natural or artificial wall that blocks water from going where we
don’t want it to go. Levees may be used to increase available land for
habitation or divert a body of water so the fertile soil of a river or sea bed
may be used for agriculture. They prevent rivers from flooding cities in a
storm surge.
- A levee, flood bank or stop bank is a natural or artificial embankment or
dike, usually earthen, which parallels the course of a river. The main
purpose of an artificial levee is to prevent flooding of the adjoining
countryside; however, they also confine the flow of the river resulting in
higher and faster water flow.
- Levees have several disadvantages including increased water speed
which in turn can not only increase erosion but also reduce beneficial in-
stream vegetation. Levee construction can increase flooding
downstream.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DIKES AND LEVEES:

The most famous system of dikes is in the Netherlands. The word Netherlands
smeans “lowlands”: more than a quarter of the country’s land is below sea level.
However, much of the land was once completely underwater. In one of the
greatest feats of hydraulic engineering ever executed, the water was eliminated
and the land made useful. While levees protects inhabited river valley areas
against inundations during floods were among the earliest engineering works. In
ancient Egypt a series of levees was built along the left bank of the Nile River for
more than 600 miles (966 kilometers), from Aswan to the Mediterranean. The
cooperative and coordinated enterprise involved in building such long, massive
embankments must have been a strong encentive for the development of an
organized society and a unified government.