Abstract: China is one of the countries with the most severe flood disasters in the world. As an important measure to resist flood disaster, levee project is of strategic significance to the harmonious development of human and nature. In this paper we introduced systematically the basic situations of levee projects in China, Europe and the United States, and emphasized on the characteristics of flood risk and flood protection value, the safety standards and levee project construction, the legislation and management of levee, the daily maintenance and emergency rescue, and other engineering and non-engineering measures. Levee and flood defence in Europe and US are characterized by high safety standards, perfect legal management system and diversified flood risk transfer measures. Research on levee safety standard, risk evolvement mechanism, legislation,levee management , early warning and emergency rescue technology should be deepened in future to enhance the comprehensive strength of flood control and disaster reduction in China.

Key words: levee project, flood protected value, levee management, levee safety standard, levee project construction, emergency rescue