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[[Image:Tyrolean_weir_icon.png|right|80px]]
[[Image:Tyrolean weir.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Tyrolean weir|Man checking the grid at a Tyrolean Weir. Tanzania. Photo: D. Bourman, Aqua for All.]]
A '''Tyrolean weir ''' is a water inlet structure in which water is abstracted from the main flow through a screen over a gutter. The gutter is usually made of concrete and built into the river bed. The screen on the crest should slope downstream (15-30 degrees), to increase flow velocities and prevent sediment carried by the stream from blocking it. From the gutter, water enters a pipeline, which drains into a sedimentation tank and then flows by gravity into the rest of the system.
Dams and water inlet structures in embankments are vulnerable and expensive elements in river-fed water systems. They are easily damaged by floods, underflow, seepage and suffer from build-up of sediment or rubbish in the water. The Tyrolean weir forms a more reliable and cheaper alternative.
| valign="top" | - More reliable and cheaper compared to dams and water inlet structures in river embankments <br>
- They do not affect water flow to communities downstream
| valign="top" | - None known
|}
===Construction, operations and maintenance===
[[Image:Tyro weir.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Tyrolian weirs are meant to intake water from mountain rivers that are very turbulent. Photo: [http://www.iahrtuwien.orgac.at/membersonlyen/grazproceedings99tuwien_home/doc/000/000/080.htm Vienna University of Technology]]]
A Tyrolean weir can either consist of parallel rods or a perforated plate, installed in the flow direction over the width of the stream with a 15-30 degree downward slope. Large stones, branches and large leaves cannot pass between the rods, and are prevented from entering the gutter. Because the rods / plate slopes downward, the material in the stream is pushed downstream, until it drops over the end of the weir.
===Manuals, videos and links===
* [http://www.ircsamsamwater.nlcom/pagelibrary/1917 TP40_11_Surface_water.pdf Surface water intake and small dams]. Chapter 11. Revised by Nhamo Masanganise.
===Acknowledgements===
* CARE Nederland, Desk Study: [[Resilient WASH systems in drought-prone areas]]. October 2010.