Human interaction with Rivers
Dams
Levees
Three Gorges Dam
185m High
1.6km wide
Reservoir 500kmsq
River Yangtze
Sanghai
Control flooding
Interferes with its ability to carry its load from source to sea
Load is trapped behind the dam in reservoirs
Fertile alluvium can't be transported
Land starved of nutrients
Farmland becoming infertile
Prevent natural flood processes
Raised raised river banks
Lower course
Manmade and Natural
Floodplains have become populated
River flows faster as the the channels are narrower
Duisburg-Europes largest inland port
Floodplain of the river Rhine
500,000 people
River deposits its load on the riverbed as it can't flow naturally
Rhine flows 30% faster than before