Chapter 15 Summary

A basic levee is simply a long mound of earth piled along a river to contain the waters. The levee systems along the Mississippi, however, are engineered and built to high standards. Between the normal riverbed and the levee structure is an expanse of land, often a mile or more wide, called the batture. The batture is typically deliberately forested to protect the levee from current scour. At the end of the batture is the barrow pit, from which the earth comes to erect the levee. The barrow pit serves as a dry moat and is typically 300 feet wide and 14 feet deep. The barrow is separated from the levee by the berm. The berm is flat ground, usually 40 feet wide. The levee proper is placed into a purposely dug trench called the muck ditch, to firmly weld it to the natural ground. The...