RIVER CHANNEL MANAGEMENT

*River sectioning
- Involves enlarging cross-section of a river channel by deepening and widening the river
done simply through the clearing of obstacles protruding from the banks or by dredging.
Rivers being river sectioned can hold more water and increase its hydraulic efficiency to
allow water to flow more efficiently, thus preventing floods. However, it requires a lot of
resources and manpower to be carried out. Also, deposition will still occur downstream,
causing the river to clog out and thus, lead to flooding overtime.

Examples: Singapore River altered by widening and deepening the channel through
dredging.

River alignment
- It is the straightening and shortening of the river to increase the speed of flow. When
river moves at faster velocity, the river will not deposit materials, therefore preventing
floods to occur. However, it is costly and it cannot prevent floods from taking place
downstream just like river re-sectioning, therefore materials will still be deposited at
downstream and overtime, flooding will occur.

Examples: Mississippi River in the United States of America shortened by 240km to

reduce threat of flooding.

Vegetation planting and clearance

- Vegetation planting, the roots of trees and other plants like tall grasses can help to bind
the soil together and stabilize the river banks. It could improve the stability of the
channel. It is effective as it helps to stabilize soil in the region and it is less expensive as
compared to river re-alignment; however it will take a long time for vegetation to grow.
Moreover, weight of vegetation may also add to bank stress and cause it to collapse. It
can also contribute to woody debris that deflect the water flow and accelerate bank
erosion; accumulation of debris may slow down the river flow and promote flooding.
Clearance of trees is therefore conducted to improve the speed of flow and stabilize the
river channel; however it requires hard work to remove the vegetation.

Examples: Geylang River near Tanjong Rhu in Singapore

Bank protection

- It does not help the river to increase its velocity. Instead, it helps to prevent flood by
building artificial levees, dykes or embankment to prevent banks from collapsing during
heavy rain when the volume of water increase dramatically and prevent sediments from
entering into the river. However, it is very short term, shorter than river alignment and
requires hard work to build the levees.

Examples: Pasir Ris park in Singapore, where artificial embankment is used.

Dams

- A big structure built across a river obstructing the flow of the water, regulating the flow
of water in a river channel. It is effective as it control the amount of water flowing
through the dam, therefore reducing the risk of flooding. Agricultural activities can be
taken place near the dams and recreation purposes behind the dams. However, it is
extremely expensive and it requires regular maintenance. It also tends to destruct the
marine animals as well as those on land as trees are cut off, forcing them to move away
from their habitat.

Examples: Hoover Dam, a concrete arch-gravity dam in Black Canyon of the Colorado
River. Lake Mead is impounded by the dam.

Conclusion: The point of introducing all the strategies are that there are no perfect
solutions, whether it is useful or useless depends on the context on the situation of the
river.

COASTAL MANAGEMENT

Seawalls

- Seawalls are made up of concrete, woods or rocks built parallel and on the coast. It is
useful as it can absorb the energy of incoming waves and reduce erosion of shore.
However, it is costly and it may collapse overtime. This is because the seawalls do not
prevent the powerful backwash of refracted waves from washing away the beach
materials beneath the walls. This eventually undermines the base of the seawalls and
leads to their collapse.

Example: The Galveston Seawall is a seawall in Galveston, Texas, USA, 16m long,
which is made up of concrete.

Gabions

- Grabions are wire cages filled with crushed rocks. These cages are piled up along the
shore to prevent or reduce coastal erosion. The are effective as they help help to weaken
the wave energy and it is cheap. However, it requires regular maintenance and it will be
unsightly if not properly maintained.

Example is the gabion in North Norfolk in England.

Breakwater

- It can be either built with one end attached to the coast or built away from the coast.
When constructed offshore, breakwaters can create a zone of calm water behind them. It
is effective as it protect the coast and harbour by reducing the force of high enerfy waves
before they reach the shore. They also encourage build up to form beaches.
Examples: Breakwater at East coast park, Singapore. It is made up of rock piles and is
attached to the coast.

Groynes

- Groynes are long narrow structures built at right angle to a beach to trap and stabilise
sand and gravel, preventing it from being transported away by longshore drift. They are
effective as they protect the coast from high energy waves and encourages build up of
beach. However, erosion will still occur on parts of the coasts not pretected by them.

Example: Wooden groynes at the coast of eastbourne, England

Beach nourishment

- Beach nourishment refers to the constant replenishment of large quantities of sand to the
beach system. It does not stop erosion, however is helps to improve both beach quality
and storm protection. It has obvious drawbacks, firstly it is expensive to transport large
quantities of sand to fill up the beach, also, it can affect the marine ecosystem, as the
imported sand gets washed out to sea and covers the marine animals, causing them to die.

Example: Waikiki Resort om hawaii

Relocation

- Relocation does not require man-made structures to be built. It also to shift the
properties located in danger zone. Designated areas also banned construction of
properties that are vulnerable to coastal erosion. The advantages of this measure is that, it
allows nature to take its own course and avoid the loss of lives and properties. However,
it may affect investment opportunities in coastal area.

Example: In parts of east coast of England, where there is a “green line” policy which
discourages any building beyond the line.

Planting of mangroves

- They have long curved roots that prop up from the soil to help trap sediments to form
beachs and reduce coastal erosion. However, it may affect the depth of coasts-
implications for port activities and coastal transportation.

Example: parts of Aceh, planted to rehabilitate coast devastated by 2004 tsunami

Stabilising sand dunes

- sand dunes are found along the shore where there is large supply of sand and wind. The
winds will carry the deposit the sand on coast further inland. Sand piles up to form
coastal dunes which help defend the coast from sea. Stabilising sand dunes are effective
as vegetation will grow on dunes anchor sand and protects coast from sea.

Example: Coastal dunes in Curonian spit.

Growth of coral reefs

- Growing coral reefs are important as they help to weaken wave energy, not only that, it
encourages the growth of living organisms. They can enhance fishing opportunies and
serve as undeasea barriers to reduce the impact of wave energy. However, many may be
damaged by reclamation and water pollution.

Examples: St. Martin’s island in Bangladesh