Improving levee bank management
The Department for Environment and Water (DEW) is undertaking a set of initiatives to improve levee bank management following major flood events in the Gawler River catchment in 2016 and along the River Murray in 2022-23.
Project objectives
- Deliver a statewide policy for levee bank management that provides a definition, roles and responsibilities, categorisation and high level principles
- Develop guidelines for sustainable design, construction and maintenance of levee banks
- Develop proposals to make the approval process for levee banks clearer and simpler
- Begin reconstruction of a third Gawler River levee bank using lessons learnt from pilot works
- Continue data collection on existing levee banks to meet the needs of state government and other stakeholders
Levee bank dataset
The South Australian levee bank dataset (pdf) is maintained by DEW and being used to inform this project. Points on the map indicate the general location of levee banks. The full dataset can be accessed via the LocationSA map viewer.
Project updates
The department has successfully repaired sections of priority levee bank along the Gawler River. This pilot initiative delivered on-ground restoration works across 400 metres of levee bank at two key sites:
- The north side of the river near Old Port Wakefield Road
- The south side of the river involving multiple private properties
Frequently asked questions
A levee bank is an embankment or wall of earth along a river to hold the water in the river channel during a flood. The purpose of a levee bank is to protect the area behind the levee bank from flooding.
Levee banks reduce the likelihood of flooding and the risks of flooding to life, assets and the environment. Levee banks can be permanently in place nearby a river or temporary as required in a flood event.
An effective levee bank is constructed in the right position near a river, allowing space for flood waters but stopping them from flooding people’s houses, sheds, properties, crops or other infrastructure and buildings.
They are designed to a height and constructed with the right materials so that when the river is flooding, the water stays in the river channel, up to a certain flood level. Levee banks reduce the risk of flood, but do not eliminate that risk completely.
Sometimes levee banks break during floods even when the flood level is lower than the levee bank. This can happen if the levee bank was not constructed properly or has not been maintained. Causes of levee bank faults can include:
- Burrowing animals
- Rotting tree roots
- Settling or cracking
- Seepage (foundation material is allowing water through the levee bank)
- Slumping (a part of the levee bank has collapsed)
Even a well-designed and maintained levee can be overtopped if a flood is greater than what the levee bank was designed to protect from.
Yes! You can find levee banks in many parts of South Australia, including:
- Extensive levee banks on the River Murray at Renmark and the lower River Murray, and smaller sections at Paringa, Lyrup and Berri.
- Levee banks on the Gawler River, Little Para River, Dry Creek, Onkaparinga River, River Torrens and Hindmarsh River.
View the South Australian levee bank dataset (pdf).
Lower Murray Reclaimed Irrigation Area (LMRIA) levee banks are in scope of the statewide policy, however works on these levee banks are being delivered by the Intermediate remediation of LMRIA levee banks project.
