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Construction, operations and maintenance
* In upstream parts of a catchment it is recommended that sand dams are always built in stages, since the availability of coarse material is generally limited and base flow is small or absent (base flow = sub-surface flow which aids surface flow so that silt/clay can still be flushed away once rainfall stops, rather than sinking directly into the sand bed). It has also been suggested that to build in stages over several years is also more beneficial for functioning of dam committees. Build them within a spillway, which was part of the first stage & wing wall construction.
====Water extraction====After the dam is built, an outlet for water extraction must be constructed for drinking, agriculture, etc.. Hand dug scoop holes are the simplest possibility, however the water can easily be contaminated. Covered shallow wells, either with hand or rope pumps without [[Handpumps]] or a [[Rope pump]] protect the water much better. It is also possible to construct an outlet pipe with a tap. In certain designs for sand dams, a pipe is shown that takes water by gravity ''through '' the dam wall. These are said to not work well due to either a blocked intake, a broken tap on outlet side and the possibility of weakening the dam wall. Where water is abstracted directly, risk of contamination increases. In such a case, household water treatment should be advocated (e.g. [[Sodis]]). <br>
[[Image:Sand dam scoop hole.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Women fetching water from a local aquifer through scoop hole]]
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