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
United States regulation of point source water pollution pollution. Oppositely, during flooding events, water pollution may spread to previously uncontaminated waters through surface overflow or the failure of man-made barriers. Before the CWA was enacted, companies indiscriminately discharged their effluents into water bodies. One such water body was the Cuyahoga River located in north-east Ohio. The river was thrust into the national limelight in 1969 when it caught fire, although the river had been plagued by fires since 1936. Pollution of the river had become prevalent in the early 1800s as contaminants from municipal and industrial discharges, bank erosion, commercial/residential development, atmospheric deposition, hazardous waste disposal sites, urban