Generally, the dam requires a sandy riverbed in a hilly area. Preferably the riverbed consists of coarse sands laid on impermeable bedrock. The river should be seasonal but must have a base flow. Whether this is the case can be determined by the type of vegetation growing around the river. The river shouldn’t be too wide (max. 25m) and should have two high riverbanks.
Ensure the sand dam is not built in an area where water will bypass the structure. Riverbanks should be equal in height and tall enough (height of dam + height of flood +10%), and the dam should not be constructed near the bend in a river.
Site where there are no possibilities for the water to leak away:
* On impervious bedrock or clay rather than rock with fractures. A good indicator is whether there is some preexisting subsurface flow in the dry season or not and if there are large stones & boulders seen in the riverbed. Extra care should be taken when siting as seepage can occur under the dam in such cases.
* On the base layer rather than on the intermediate clay lens within sand.
* Between defined banks with no old riverbeds on either side which could allow sub-surface water around dam edge.
Site in areas where gradient is suitable to get sand rather than silt. A flow of at least 0.45 m/s river flow means less silt deposition, and such areas will be where there is a suitable gradient – too flat and there will be too many small particles and silt. Flatter gradients also mean wider riverbeds, and for sand dams it should really be limited to 25 metres width. An optimum gradient is said to occur between 0.125% and 4% but can be higher than this but then the sand volume stored is less. An easier field test might be to do a sand analysis to find size distribution, or a porosity & specific yield test from which one can extrapolate the likely sand type. Medium sand will have the best balance between porosity and specific yield, and is therefore the type that is needed.
Site where river is narrower and where there is a natural barrier to groundwater flow. This results in cheaper construction while maximizing sand already present. Such barriers can be found by seeing where water will remain in scoop holes after rains, or through probing, augering & trial pits, or other techniques such as drilling with air compressor.
Avoid siting where halite (white & pink rocks) is present in riverbanks upstream. These may make the water saline.
Having a lead artisan per catchment area to decide on siting seems to help success rates.
Have a sequence of dams in the same river to avoid everyone using a single source with possible ecological damage as a result. However, having dams too close together means their areas of influence overlap. This enables water levels to rise in general, but the total quantity of water available decreases. Quantity is more important regionally, therefore minimum distances might be employed between dams (350m either side of dam was zone of influence in Kenya with a 700m minimum, but this might vary according to site).
These conditions and also others related to, for example; climate, presence of boulders, or gradient of the riverbed must be analyzed in detail to determine suitability of the site. Also, though it can be artificially improved, the water quality must be good enough for drinking (not too saline, contaminated, etc.)