[[Image:check dams (gully plugs) icon.png|right]]
[[Image:check dam india.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Check Dam for Rainwater Conservation. NMDC Diamond Mine, Panna, Madhya Pradesh. Photo: [http://greenfieldeco.com/photogallery.php Greenfield Eco Solutions Pvt. Ltd.]]]
[[Image:EthiopianGullyPlug.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Rehabilitated gully in Adaga Lemne watershed, Axum, Tigray Province. Photo: Johan Rockstrom.]]
A check dam is a small, temporary or permanent dam constructed across a drainage ditch, gully, swale, or channel to lower the speed of concentrated flows (like an overflow weir) for a certain design range of storm events. They may be more categorized as a type of floodwater rather than a runoff harvesting technique. A check dam can be built from logs of wood, stone, pea gravel-filled sandbags or bricks and cement. They have been used widely in Kenya and India. These dams can also be made as [[leaky dams]]. Dams that have been built in riverbeds with no coarse sand transport ([[Sand dam]]s) may end up being used in this way. These structures are relatively cheap and can last about 2-5 years.
==Resilience to changes in the environment==
[[Image:EthiopianGullyPlug.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Rehabilitated gully in Adaga Lemne watershed, Axum, Tigray Province. Photo: Johan Rockstrom.]]
====Drought====
'''Effects of drought''': Lower crop yields.<br>