[[Image:ControlledFlooding.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Groundwater recharge in spreading basins. Arizona, USA. <br> SourcePhoto: CAP (2002)]]
This is a floodwater harvesting technique where the water diverted from a river, with the help of diversion structures and canals, is spread evenly over a large surface area where it is used for recharging groundwater, irrigation, filling ponds, and watering grazing land. The concept is that a thin sheet of water flows over the land but at minimum velocity in order to avoid disturbing the soil cover. This includes [[Irrigation_-_Spate_irrigation|spate irrigation]], but also standard channel irrigation which takes river water via channels to fields.
==Suitable conditions==
{{Climate_change
|drought_text=- ''Effects of drought'': Lower crop yields. <br> - ''Underlying causes of effects'': Less water to crops from flooding. <br> - ''To increase resiliency of WASH system'': Drought-resistant & fast-growing crops; Diversify livelihoods of farmers.
|flood_text= Spreading basins are perfect for areas with floods. They are built to transfer excess water away from rivers, so that uncontrollable floods don't happen in unwanted places. However, in the event of too much flooding, the spreading basin must be large enough to handle the increased volumes of rain. Plus, with intense rain events, the higher velocities might be too much for the soil of the basin and created a washed out effect and likely just runoff before infiltrating. In this case, additional vegetation enhancement (to help the soils absorb more water), wetland enhancement, levee protection, and/or additional water storage will be helpful.
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Site in areas of high volume and intensity river flows where conventional irrigation structures are not feasible (spate systems should probably be promoted in areas where the practice is already in use).
{{procontable | pro=