a system of earthen barrier embankments (levees) erected along the shores of rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and seas to protect adjacent areas from intermittent flooding in case of a rise in the water level (high water), and also during high tide and wind-induced water surges. The front of the banking usually consists of a dam (sometimes two rows of dams) situated along the shoreline or around the perimeter of the part of the area to be protected (perimeter banking). Small transverse dams, which divide the protected area into a number of sections, thus localizing the flooding, are built against the possibility of a local rupture of the banking. Steady farming of fertile coastal and floodplain lands (especially along the lower courses of rivers and in river deltas) can only be ensured by the construction of banking.