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{{Language-box|english_link= Water Portal / Rainwater Harvesting / Groundwater recharge / Check dams (gully plugs) | french_link= Coming soon | spanish_link= Coming soon | hindi_link= Coming soon | malayalam_link= Coming soon | tamil_link= Coming soon | korean_link= Coming soon | chinese_link=攔沙壩（防砂壩） | indonesian_link= Coming soon | japanese_link= Coming soon }}

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.