Engineering Approaches
Channel modifications - As discussed above, channelization. can enlarge cross-sectional area and thus create a situation where a higher stage is necessary before flooding. In other words by enlarging the cross-sectional area, higher discharge can be held within the channel. Channelization also increases water velocity, and thus reduces drainage time.
Dams - Dams can be used to hold water back so that discharge downstream can be regulated at a desired rate. Human constructed dams have spillways that can be opened to reduce the level of water in the reservoir behind the dam. Thus, the water level can be lowered prior to a heavy rain, and more water can be trapped in the reservoir and released later at a controlled discharge.
Retention ponds - Retention ponds serve a similar purpose to dams. Water can be trapped in a retention pond and then released at a controlled discharge to prevent flooding downstream.
Levees, Dikes, and Floodwalls - These are structures built along side the channel to increase the stage at which the stream floods. Some controversy has developed concerning the use of such structures. For example, during the 1993 floods on the upper Mississippi River, the city of St. Louis was prevented from flooding by closing the floodwalls. This essentially narrowed the river channel as it passed St. Louis and caused slowing of the River. Because of the restricted channel, flood waters were forced to flow into areas both upstream and downstream from St. Louis, perhaps increasing the damage in the these areas.
Floodways - Floodways are areas that can be built to provide an outlet to a stream and allow it flood into an area that has been designated as a floodway. Floodways are areas where no construction is allowed, and where the land is used for agricultural or recreational purposes when there is no threat of a flood, but which provide an outlet for flood waters during periods of high discharge. The Bonnet Carrie Spillway west of New Orleans is such a floodway. During low stages of the Mississippi River the land between the River and Lake Pontchartrain is used for recreational purposes - hunting, fishing, and dirt bike riding for example. During high stages of the River when there is a potential for the River to rise to flood stage in New Orleans, the spillway is opened so that water drains into Lake Pontchartrain. This lowers the level of water in the Mississippi and reduces the possibility of a levee break or water overtopping the levee