Analysis of the Impacts of Dikes on Flood Stages in the Middle Mississippi River
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Volume 139, Issue 10
Abstract
The US Army Corps of Engineers has constructed numerous river engineering structures in and along the Middle Mississippi River. River training and bank stabilization measures include pile dikes, stone dikes, bendway weirs, chevrons, and revetments. Concerns have long been voiced about the effects of these structures on flood stages. Recent debate concerning the scientific basis for these concerns has been invigorated by specific gauge analysis that appears to show a rising trend in flood stages over the past 150 years. This paper attempts to advance the debate by providing an objective review of the specific gauge analysis technique that explains how the method should be performed and the results interpreted; identifies strengths and limitations; examines the uncertainties associated with application to the Middle Mississippi River given the available data; and reassesses the conclusions that can and cannot reasonably be drawn regarding the impacts of dikes and levees on flood stages, based on specific gauge analysis of the Middle Mississippi River. The application of specific gauge analysis to records from the St. Louis gauge, by using methods that carefully follow the guidelines set out in this paper, provides no evidence that dike construction has raised flood stages, but indicates that rises in flood stages are more probably related to levee building.
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Acknowledgments
The research reported herein was partially supported by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.K. Flood Risk Management Research Consortium (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Grant No. EP/FP202511/1). The authors gratefully acknowledge this support. However, the findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of these organizations.
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 10 • October 2013
Pages: 1071 - 1078
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 15, 2012
Accepted: Jun 3, 2013
Published online: Jun 5, 2013
Published in print: Oct 1, 2013
Discussion open until: Nov 5, 2013
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