Check dam
As gully check dams are implemented in a large areas of northern Ethiopia, this contributes to groundwater recharge and increased river base flow.
[7] Check dams are used primarily to control water velocity, conserve soil, and improve land.
[9] Accordingly, they are commonly used in degrading temporary channels, in which permanent stabilization is impractical and infeasible in terms of resource allocation and funding due to the short life period.
As such, check dams serve as temporary grade-control mechanisms along waterways until resolute stabilization is established or along permanent swales that need protection prior to installation of a non-erodible lining.
Coarse and medium-grained sediment from runoff tends to be deposited behind check dams, while finer grains flow through.
Floating garbage is also trapped by check dams, increasing their effectiveness as water quality control measures.
Such consolidation check dams, built in terraces, attempt to prevent both headward and downward cutting into channel beds while also stabilizing adjacent hill slopes.
Because they are typically used as temporary structures, they are often made of cheap and accessible materials such as rocks, gravel, logs, hay bales, and sandbags.
[16] Woven wire can be used to construct check dams in order to hold fine material in a gully.
[9] This criterion induces a weir effect, resulting in increased water surface level upstream for some, if not all flow conditions.
[19] In order to effectively slow water velocity to reduce erosion and to protect the channel between dams in a larger system, spacing must be designed properly.
[21] Moreover, the dams are simple to construct and do not rely on advanced technologies, allowing their use in rural communities with fewer resources or access to technical expertise, as they have been in India's drylands for some time now.
[5] Check dams, depending on the material used, can have a limited life span but if implemented correctly can be considered permanent.
[5] Check dams require regular maintenance as typically temporary structures not designed to withstand long-term use.
