Coastal Engineering
Water Resources Engineering
Dykes

Dykes fall under the area of reclamation and conservancy. They are used to protect the land from the encroachment of the sea and to assist in the recovery and reclaiming of land from the sea. Maintenance of these structures is extremely important in order to prevent flooding of inhabited areas.

Holland
  Large areas of The Netherlands are below sea level. First they had to recover the land from the sea. A 28 km dyke was built to enclose the Zuiderzee inlet. By pumping dredged sand ashore, part of the area was reclaimed. Much of the area is maintained as a freshwater lake.

Civil engineers are also concerned with the filtering of seawater into the groundwater which could destroy the agricultural value of the recovered land.

Of major concern for civil engineers is the possibility of flooding. It is thought that tidal waves like the one in 1953 which caused severe damage and salt contamination, will happen at least once every 300 years.

Interesting fact:

In 1421 the seas broke through the dikes at Dort, Holland drowning an estimated 100,000 people.

Civil engineers are also involved in the building of dykes along rivers with histories of severe flooding such as:

     

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