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Erosion control

The U.S. Army Corps or Engineers (USACE) has responsibility for the maintenance of U.S. waterways. The Army's Civil Works missions fall in four broad areas: water infrastructure, environmental management and restoration, response to natural and manmade disasters, and engineering and technical services to the Army, Department of Defense (DOD) and other Federal agencies. The Corps maintains more than 12,000 miles (19,200 km) of inland waterways and operates 235 locks. The Corps also maintain 300 commercial harbors, through which pass 2 billion tons of cargo a year, and more than 600 smaller harbors.

The USACE's flood control efforts range from small, local protection projects (levees or non-structural flood control measures) to major dams. Today, most Corps constructed flood protection projects are owned by sponsoring cities, towns, and agricultural districts, but the Corps continues to maintain and operate 383 dams and reservoirs for flood control. The Corps was first authorized to build hydroelectric plants in the 1920s, and today operates 75 power plants.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture manages the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) assists owners of America's private land with conserving their soil, water, and other natural resources. Local, state and federal agencies and policymakers also rely on our expertise.

Erosion control is a primary concern of the Army Corps of Engineers and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The table that follows shows the primary structural methods employed against erosion and what method of erosion it is designed to stop or mitigate.

Metalith physical barriers and Metalith H2O flood control barriers can be used in a wide variety of erosion control and flood control applications including:

• Drain and channel wall linings

• Pond wall linings

• River bank or stream bank linings

• Floodways barrier walls

• Embankment protection linings or barriers

• Revetments
  Facing of erosion resistant material.

• Levees
  Earth structures (dams) that keep elevated water levels from flooding interior lowlands. Metalith panels can be used to harden levee structures.

• Dikes
  Earth structures (dams) that keep elevated water levels from flooding interior lowlands. Metalith panels can be used to harden dike structures.

• Groins
  Structures that extend, fingerlike, perpendicularly or nearly right angles from the shore. Metalith barriers can be used to build the groins.

• Breakwaters
  Parallel structures that reduce the amount of wave energy. Metalith barriers can be used as the breakwater structures.

• Bulkheads
  Vertical retaining walls

• Bridge abutment protection
  Metalith barrier walls can be used to protect bridge abutment structures.

• Seawalls
  Massive, vertical structures used to protect backshore areas from heavy wave action. Metalith barrier wall can be constructed as temporary or permanent seawalls

• Temporary road stabilization barriers
  Metalith panels can be configured as road stabilization barriers

• Dike and levee protection
  Barriers designed to be in front of the levee or dike to protect it from breaching materials.

• Slope protection
  Metalith panels can be arranged to help retain rock or soil on slopes.

For more information about Infrastructure Defense Technologies' perimeter and barrier security products and applications, please call us at 1-800-621-5617, email us at info@themetalith.com, or fill out our contact form.

To learn more about Infrastructure Defense Technologies, our products, and our capabilities, please visit www.infrastructure-defense.com or call us at 1-800-379-1822.

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The Metalith
A Division of Infrastructure Defense Technologies
3575 Morreim Drive • Belvidere, Illinois 61008
Phone: 1-800-621-5617• Fax: 1-815-323-1317
Email: info@themetalith.com

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