CHAPTER III

HEADWATER FLOOD CONTROL

Headwater floods

 is considered to be a small-area floods;

 are typically flash floods of short duration that occur rather frequently, often
associated with severe thunderstorm activity;
 Is too often neglected;
 Average area rainfall intensity is higher;
 Run-off is much more extreme than in larger watersheds.

Flood control

 is a relative term as it is economical to provide protection for the largest flood

that will occur;
 Activity downstream from headwater areas constitutes downstream engg, and
includes levees, large dams, etc.;

Headwater flood control includes

 Reduce flood flows in watersheds of small rivers (max size of a watershed for a
headwater area – 2,500 km²);
 Different than downstream measures (the effectiveness of headwater control
measures decreases rapidly with distance downstream);

 downstream floods are more spectacular and damages are more evident;

Effects of crops, soils, tillage practices, and conservation measures are more important
since the surface condition of the entire headwater area can often change completely
from season to season and from year to year.

1.1 Economic Aspects of Flood Control

1. Damage

Flood damage maybe classified as:

 Direct losses
 Indirect losses
 Intangible losses

Agricultural losses are much greater in headwater areas than downstream

Flood water causes damage by inundation and by high velocities

 Bridges
 Buildings
 Roads
 Farmlands
 Stream channels

Damages may be classed as

 Nonrecurring
 Recurrent

Flood damage can be prevented by:

 Forecasting
 Proper flood control measures

2. Benefits

 Reduction of losses
 Individuals
 Industries
 Public

1.2 Downstream Flood Control

1. Control on Lower Reaches

 Levees
 Channel improvement
 Diversion floodways
 Stabilization and protection of channel banks (gabions, riprap, stable lining
materials)
 Straightening of the channel by cut-offs
 Construction of floodways
 Dredging operations

Gabions

Riprap

Tributary of a river

Floodway
Dredging operations

2. Control on Upper Reaches

 Watershed – 13,000 km² or less, reservoirs may provide adequate flood

protection;
 Levees for local protection
 Channel straightening
 Stream bank protection

1.3 Types of Floods

Flood

 As an overflow or inundation from a river or other body of water;

 Normal part of a stream's history and should not be looked on as an unexpected
occurrences;
 Occur on the flood plains adjacent to rivers and streams and result from such
natural causes, as excessive rainfall and melting snow.

Occasionally, tidal waves or hurricanes cause flooding.

The distinction between normal discharge and flood-flow is generally determined by the
stage of the stream when bankful.

1. Large-Area Floods

 Occur from storms of low intensity having a duration of a few days to several
weeks;

Causes:

 Melting of snow
 Seasons of maximum total precipitation

In many parts of the country – come in the late winter or early spring.

In arid regions of the west – late spring

In Florida – Autumn

For Ohio – March and April

2. Small-Area Floods

 Occur from storms of high intensity having a duration of 1 day or less;

  90% of the annual amount of rain, falling at rates greater than 25mm/h;
 Usually do not produce high run-off on

large streams but often cause serious local damage;

Causes

 Great damage to agricultural land through soil erosion – 85% annual soil loss;
 Sediment accumulation in rivers and reservoirs.

1.4 Flood Plain Zoning

 Flood control program – coordinated among many private and governmental

interests.
 Regulation of land use in the flood plain by local governments can be more
economical and effective than structural measures.

1.5 Flood Control Legislation

 Flood control policy

 Watershed protection and flood control
 Flood control activities on navigable streams and their tributaries
 Investigations and improvements on rivers and waterways for flood control
 Assist local organizations to prepare plans for engineering works and land
treatment measures for the reduction of flood damage in headwater areas
 Authorized special-purpose districts to carry out works of improvement
 Flood insurance legislation ( covers only direct losses to buildings and their
contents) – motor vehicles, growing crops, land, livestock, etc. are not insurable
under the government program.

1.6 Conservancy Districts

 Are legal enterprises organized for the purpose of soil conservation and flood
control;
 Privately financed project organized under the conservancy laws;
 Are known by a variety of names; watershed district, water-management districts,
other special-purpose titles.

Constructed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers or the USDA

Methods of Headwater Flood Control

Two general classes of headwater flood control measures:

 Those that retard flow or reduce runoff by land treatment or reservoirs;

  Those that accelerate the flow by channel improvement, channel straightening,
and levees.

Channel straightening using cut-off

Reducing Flood-Flows

Methods in reducing flood-flows:

 Watershed treatment
 Flood control reservoirs
 Underground storage –is accomplished by spreading the flow over a
considerable area- is applicable only in special situations, particularly in arid
regions.

Underground storage

Measures that retards the flow or reduce…

 All visible evidence or danger of the flood is removed;

 The flow in the stream is more uniform, thus providing greater recharge of the
ground water and a more adequate water supply;
 An important step toward the conservation of natural resources is achieved;
 Higher crop production results, especially in areas where conservation of water in
important;
 Reduction of sedimentation in lower tributaries is accomplished.

1.7 Watershed Treatment

 All practices applied to the land that are effective in reducing flood run-off and
controlling erosion;
 Proper land-use and conservation practices (conservation – contouring, strip
cropping, terracing)

 Land management
 Subsurface drainage

Contouring

Strip cropping

Terracing

Subsurface Drainage

1.8 RESERVOIRS
  For flood control maybe classified as natural or artificial;
 Reduce flood peaks, but not flood volumes;
 Diminishes rapidly with distance downstream;
 Have emergency spillways to handle run-off in excess of the design flood.

Two types of reservoirs

 Flood-regulated storage reservoir – discharges through adjustable gates.

 Detention reservoir – operates automatically by discharging through one or more
fixed openings in the dam;

 Have one or more discharge openings of fixed dimensions.

Detention reservoir

Regulated Reservoir
Lakes and rivers in northern Minnesota that fed the Mississippi River were turned into a
vast reservoir system that regulated the flow of water to the mills in Minneapolis. The
United States Army Corps of Engineers managed the reservoirs.

 All headwater flood control reservoirs are of the detention type.

Advantage of the regulated reservoir:

 Flexibility of operations

Advantages of the detention reservoir:

 Simplicity;
 Automatic operation

Disadvantages of reservoir:

 Some land must be flooded to protect other lower land

 Annual and initial costs are high

Increasing Channel Capacity

Purpose of increasing channel capacity:

 Decrease height and duration of floods;

 Reduce flood damage
Increasing capacity of the stream:

 Channel improvement;
 Channel straightening;
 levees

1.9 Channel Improvement

 Includes those measures that increase the channel capacity.

Increasing cross-section:

 maybe accomplished by deepening or widening the channel;

 By removing trees and sandbars from the watercourse;

On small streams: removal of trees and sandbars may increase the flow rate as much
as one third to one half.

On large streams: the increase is considered negligible.

Increasing velocity

 Removing debris and vegetation has a greater effect on the roughness

coefficient in small streams than in large streams;
 The hydraulic radius and resulting velocity can be increased by widening or
deepening the channel;
 For increase in cross-sectional area, deepening the channel is more effective
than widening;
 The depth may be increased, by using levees as well as by dredging or cleaning
out the channel.

Two ways of increasing the channel slope

1. Deepening the channel or lowering the water level at the outlet;

2. Straightening.

Deepening:

 By increasing the cross-sectional area at the outlet;

 Removing debris or sandbars.
 Bank slopes may be increased with permanent lining, especially on large
channels.

1.10 Channel Straightening

Cut-offs is a natural or artificial channel that shortens a meandering stream.

Purpose:

 Increase the velocity;

 Shorten the channel length;
 Decrease the length of levees.

Cut-offs are desirable where:

 The stream capacity in the bend is less than the capacity in other parts of the
channel;
 The capacity of the entire channel is to be increased with levees;
 Construction of the cut-off is more economical than increasing the capacity
around the bend;
 Does not detrimentally affect the flow characteristics of the stream but may cause
channel scour upstream.

1.11 LEVEES

 Are embankments along streams or on flood plains designed to confine the river
flow to a definite width for the protection of surrounding land from overflow;
 May be designed either to confine the river flow (for a considerable distance);
 Provide local protection.

Levees

Levees

Effect of confining water between levees:

 Increase the velocity through the leveed section;

 Increase the water surface elevation during floods;
 Increase the maximum discharge at all points downstream;
 Increase the rate of travel of the flood wave;
 Decrease the surface slope upstream.

PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE

For maintaining the capacity of the stream channel include:

o Those that affect erosion in the channel itself;

o Those that reduce sediment from upper tributaries.

Maintenance in the channel is required to prevent the collection of debris and to reduce
sediment from eroding banks.

1.12 Bank Protection

Two classes of bank protection:

1. Those that retard the flow along banks and cause deposition;
2. Those that cover the banks and prevent erosion.

1. Retarding the flow along stream banks is desirable to control meandering, to protect
the bank, thereby reducing deposition below, and to protect highways, railroads, and
other structures near the channel.

Common method of control is to build retards extending into the stream from the banks.

Materials to construct retards:

 Piles;
 Trees;
 Rocks;
 Steel framing

Retards sometimes referred to as jetties, serve to decrease the velocity along the
concave bank, and hence, increase deposition of sediment.

2. Methods of preventing stream bank erosion.

Plants suitable for vegetative control are grass, shrubs, and trees.

Mechanical measures to cover the stream bank include wood and concrete mattresses,
rock or stone, riprap, gabions, asphalt, geotextiles, and sacked or monolithic concrete.

1.13 REDUCTION OF SEDIMENT AND DEBRIS

Sediment & debris in stream channels can be reduced by deposition in suitable settling
basins or by land treatment.

Sediment from high-velocity streams in cultivated watersheds is deposited on flood plain

areas & in the stream channels.

Settling basin (to place so as to stay) are often satisfactory, good land management
accompanied by channel cleanout may be more practical.

FLOOD ROUTING

 Is the process of determining the stage height, storage volume, and outflow rate
from a reservoir or a stream reach for a particular inflow hydrograph.
 is a method that is applied to describe the processes in the water course, and it
is used to predict the temporal and spatial variation of a flood wave, at one or
more points along a water course (river or channel).
Stream reach

Principles of Flood routing

 Flood routing involves inflow into the reservoir or stream reach;

 Outflow through the dam or stream reach;
 Storage in the reservoir or stream valley and channel.