Bank and Levee Stabilization, Lower Colorado River

The Bureau of Reclamation, United States Dept. Of Interior has been involved in the problems of leveee protection, river bank stabilization, and sedimentation on the Lower Colorado River for several years. The procedures used for providing levee protection under the early conditions of no storage dams on the river generally involved large quantities of quarry-run stone placed on the levee by means of railroad cars. Conditions in 1961, with a high degree of flood protection provided by Hoover, Davis, and Parker Dams call for different methods. Channelization activities on the Lower Colorado River still provide levee protection to surrounding land areas; however, greater stress is given to bank stabilization along the normal stage channel banks in order to maintain the channel in its designed location and alinement and to control the movement of sediment from the alluvial banks. The methods being used by the Bureau of Reclamation are the result of 50 yr of experience. Innovations in the methods of placing riprap stone for bank stabilization purposes have resulted in the development of fast and economical procedures that have proven entirely satisfactory when used on the non-cohesive, alluvial banks typical of the Lower Colorado River.