Levee Levee A levee (), dike, dyke, embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels. It is usually earthen and often parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain or along low-lying coastlines. Speakers of American English (notably in the Midwest and Deep South), use the word "levee", from the French word "levée" (from the feminine past participle of the French verb "lever", "to raise"). It originated in New Orleans a few years after the city's founding in 1718 and was later adopted by English speakers. The
Deer Flat Upper Embankment Deer Flat Upper Embankment Deer Flat Upper Embankment (National ID # ID00276) is a dam in Canyon County, Idaho, directly southwest of the town of Nampa. The earthen dam was completed in 1908 by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, with a height of 74 feet and 4165 feet long at its crest. The Upper Embankment is the largest of a set of four dikes here impounding the water of the Boise River in offstream storage. The other dams are: The reservoir it creates, Lake Lowell, has a normal surface area of 16 square miles, and a maximum capacity of