The eLearning Center for Gatlin Education Services

Levees are used to provide flood protection along waterways. Levees protect agricultural land as well as urban areas. Unfortunately, levees gained notoriety following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when several levees failed in Louisiana causing mass flooding to the city of New Orleans.

Levees can fail for several reasons, some can be man-made and some by events of nature. This course will review the types of failures and how to design and construct levees to avoid failures. The student will review the entire process of levee design from the initial investigation to final design and construction.

There are several steps to the design and construction of levees. These steps have been implemented in order to produce levees that will perform as effective as possible to protect low-lying areas. There are different types of levees that protect different types of property or areas, such as agricultural and urban. Although different types of levees exist, they all are intended to protect against water damage.

The design and construction of levees is a very important field or specialty within engineering and construction. This online course will explore the various types of levees along with their uses in flood protection. It will provide the reader the information to investigate the proper location, types, and size of levees.

This course will provide the reader with the knowledge to understand what levees are and why they perform correctly and why they fail. This course will probably be read by the engineer gaining valuable pdh credits; however it is presented so that anyone with an interest in this important subject can be educated. For the engineer, please share this valuable information with your colleagues. For the lay person or general audience, please share this information with your friends and coworkers.

The course materials are based solely on the informational report “Design and Construction of Levees” as found on the Website of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The student must take a multiple-choice quiz consisting of thirty-seven (37) questions at the end of this course to obtain PDH credits.

State Board Acceptance

This course can be used by professional engineers to fulfill PDH requirements mandated by state and provincial licensing boards. Decatur Professional Development is an approved provider of continuing education in all states that pre-approve course providers. In all other states that mandate continuing education for engineers, it is the individual engineer's responsibility to determine the suitability of activities for PDH credit. The state boards typically accept online* courses that cover technical, managerial** or ethical content and which are relevant to the practice of engineering. The course must have a clear purpose or objective with a content that will maintain, improve or expand the skills and knowledge of the licensee's field of practice. For questions about your mandatory PDH requirements, visit the website of your state licensing board.

*Online courses are accepted by all state licensing boards that mandate continuing education. Other than New York (which limits online courses to 18 PDH) and Iowa (which limits online courses to 6 PDH), there are no limits placed by other states on the number of hours that can be earned through online continuing education. Consult with your state licensing board if you have any questions about the acceptability of online courses.

**The New York State Board of Engineers does not accept general office management courses, but will accept project management courses that are offered by an approved provider and that are technical in nature and contribute to the engineer's professional practice.

Please Note: Continuing Education credits for this course are awarded as PDH (Professional Development Hour Credits).