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Erosion control

Erosion control is the practice of preventing or controlling wind or water erosion in agriculture, land development and construction. This usually involves the creation of some sort of physical barrier, such as vegetation or rock, to absorb some of the energy of the wind or water that is causing the erosion. These barriers can also be aluminum Metalith H2O panels.

One of the major organizations discharged with helping to control erosion is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The 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 over 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, the Corps continues to maintain and operate 383 dams and reservoirs for flood control. The Corps also operates 75 power plants.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture manages the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that 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 and Metalith H2O panels can be a prime solution for this problem. The table that follows shows the primary structural methods employed against erosion and what method of erosion it is designed to stop or mitigate.

Type of Erosion Control Structure	Erosion	Inundation	Storm Surge
Offshore breakwaters	X
Perched beach	X	X
Groins	X
Revetments	X	X	X
Dikes	X	X	X
Seawalls	X	X	X
Bulkheads	X	X	X
Dams		X	X

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

Breakwaters - parallel structures that reduce the amount of wave energy. Both Metalith and Metalith™ H2O barriers can be used to build breakwater structures.
Bridge abutment protection – Metalith barriers or Metalith H2O panels can be used to construct bridge abutment protection structures.
Bulkheads - vertical retaining walls.
Dike and levee protection – barriers designed to be in front of the levee or dike to protect it from breaching materials.
Dikes - earth structures (dams) that keep elevated water levels from flooding interior lowlands. Metalith or Metalith H2O panels can be used to harden dike structures.
Drain and channel wall linings.
Embankment protection linings or barriers.
Floodway barrier walls.
Groins - structures that extend, fingerlike, perpendicularly or nearly right angles from the shore. Metalith or Metalith H2O barriers can be used to build the groins,
Levees - earth structures (dams) that keep elevated water levels from flooding interior lowlands. Metalith or Metalith H2O panels can be used to harden levee structures.
Pond wall linings.
Revetments - facing of erosion resistant material.
River bank or stream bank linings.
Seawalls - massive, vertical structures used to protect backshore areas from heavy wave action. Metalith and Metalith H2O barriers can be constructed as temporary or permanent seawalls.
Slope protection – Metalith or Metalith H2O panels can be arranged to help retain rock or soil on slopes, depending on height requirements, and
Temporary road stabilization barriers – Metalith H2O panels could be configured as road stabilization barriers.

Infrastructure Defense Technologies' flood protection, flood fighting, and erosion control barriers, are designed to protect critical infrastructure, as well as natural resources, from the ravages of nature.

For more information about Infrastructure Defense Technologies' flood barriers and erosion control barriers and applications, please call us at 1-800-379-1822, email us at info@metalithH2O.com, info@infrastructure-defense.com or fill out our contact form.

The Metalith H2O
A Division of Infrastructure Defense Technologies
3575 Morreim Drive • Belvidere, Illinois 61008
Phone: 1-800-621-5617 • Fax: 1-815-323-1317
Email: info@MetalithH2O.com

Please fill out our
contact form or speak directly to a Metalith H2O representative at:
1-800-379-1822.

For more information about the Metalith H2O flood fighting barriers, please request our FREE BROCHURE by mail.

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