Water Portal / Rainwater Harvesting / Groundwater recharge / Check dams (gully plugs)

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 Media:leaky dams. Sand dams that have been built in riverbeds with no coarse sand transport may end up being used in this way.