ABSTRACT

River engineering is the science of intentionally diverting or otherwise influencing the course of a river, usually to benefit humans in some way. Da Vinci lived in Florence in the early sixteenth century and served as both a political and military advisor to the ruling families. He believed that the Arno River could be diverted to run behind the city of Pisa and flow directly from Florence to the sea. The Salton Sea area is an unpleasant place to visit, and it bears little resemblance to the recreational area that was first envisioned. In the case of the Teton Dam, once construction was complete, engineers began slowly allowing water to fill in behind it. Failures in river engineering can be nearly as spectacular as achievements. The 1975 failure of the Banqiao Reservoir Dam, located in the Henan Province of China, was one of several that resulted from a major typhoon.