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![]() General Approach to Bank Stabilization 
in flow or channel characteristics. Bank stability can then be addressed as an integral part of 
that evaluation. 
4.1.1 RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT 
This approach is feasible only in comprehensive projects. A large part of the basin 
must be controlled or managed to be effective in stabilizing the downvalley streams. 
Significant local cooperation, social and economic constraints, and legal safeguards are 
involved, and if measures that are comprehensive enough to significantly reduce channel 
instability are implemented, the project may have complex effects on other aspects of long- 
term stream behavior. 
The operational aspects and effectiveness of basin management depends on basin 
characteristics such as topography, land use, climate, soil types, vegetation, and rainfall 
patterns. The two major components of basin management are land treatment and reservoirs. 
4.1.1.1 Land Treatment 
Major components of land treatment are: 
Riparian greenbelts 
Agricultural practices to minimize runoff and erosion 
No-till planting 
Crop rotation 
Contour plowing and terracing 
Improved management of irrigation flows 
Improved forestry practices 
Limits on clear-cutting 
Careful collecting and hauling practices 
Improved grazing practices 
Stable runoff channels 
Benefits of land treatment to channel stabilization are as follows: 
Peak discharges are reduced somewhat, thus reducing streamflow 
attack on the banks, as well as perhaps providing some flood control 
benefits. 
Sediment supply to the stream system is also reduced, which results 
in a reduction in channel aggradation and associated flood problems, 
as discussed by Liu (1989) for the Yellow River, and an improvement 
in water quality and navigation depths downstream. The precise 
effects depend on the character of the sediment supply and other basin 
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