Levees are long linear structures where are often unavailable or insufficient data from the preliminary design to maintenance during exploatation and monitoring. Their importance is in the first place the protection of human life and material and other goods. In Croatian history the levees are almost always built when the need for flood defence or to improve the existing system of protection against adverse effects of water. Such actions are mainly implemented without the required geotechnical investigations, internal regulations and the prescribed monitoring of levees. But levees are not static structures as well as the high water level on which the levees are designed. In the Republic of Croatia in the last ten years extreme hydraulic phenomena are recorded which influenced the levees. Because of such construction conditions and the levee aging there is a need for serious systematization of levees state. Due to the impact, but also the significance of levees it is important to maintain them safe and therefore continue to implement monitoring. In this article monitoring through the assessment of the levees is proposed, whose basic idea is foundation and levee data collection. Negative effects on the levees and indicators that should be monitored and the importance of levee assessment and the guidelines and recommendations for the levee assessment implementation are described. Appropriate geotechnical investigations and monitoring provide the levees assessment and give the timely response due to the information of the possible collapse modes or levee deterioration. The systematic levee monitoring and the data obtained by geotechnical investigations, measurements, and even the very visual observation and the resulting levee assessment provides a great opportunity to use for the purpose of designing, building, construction and new levee exploatation.

levee; maintenance; levee condition assessment; monitoring; failures