Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Kathy Grassel

Document Type

Technical Report

Publication Date

7-1-2002

Abstract

This professional project report presents a history of jetty jacks from the 1940s to the present and offers some comments and recommendations on what the future has in store for jetty jacks based on the past. This history will trace how: • jetty jacks contributed to the success of the massive human undertaking of re-shaping the Rio Grande for the protection of property, levees, and riverbanks from flooding; • the expande role of jetty jacks in the establishment of a straight channel in the Middle Rio Grande Valley; • loss of function of jetty jacks in a post-dam era, and finally • how present-day managers are grappling with balancing past technology with present demands. End-users of a jetty-jack analysis value information relating to their specific mission. To provide context for that edification, this paper reviews not only the history of jetty jacks and their role in flood and erosion control, but also discusses the issues surrounding their former usefulness and present redundancy as well as potential stumbling blocks to their removal based on varying positions of the resource agencies. This paper is qualitative, to be used as a starting point for further discussion. I will look at three restoration projects that are in either the study or implementation phase and that include jetty jack removal, a prism through which a sharper picture will hopefully be illumined.

Language (ISO)

English

Comments

A professional project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Water Resources

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