Introduction to

Check Dams
8

This training was prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) team of Otto Gonzalez-USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (Team
Leader), Jon Fripp (Civil Engineer) and Chris Hoag (Wetland Plant Ecologist)-USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (Civil Engineers).
Fripp and Hoag were the primary authors of this material. The U.S. AID provided funding support for the USDA team.

Check Dams
Usually Used in Collection Zone
Can Also be used in Transport Zone

These are structures

Use caution
Understand the processes
at work in the system
Know the components of a
check dam

Understand the processes at work in the system

What happens in if all the vegetation is

removed from a watershed?

Answer:
More erosion of surface

So what happens if you have

more water running down the
watershed collection zone?
Answer: Erosion. Gullies will form and
grow. The channel will get hungry and
eat its boundary.

The stream or gulley will start by

attacking the bottom of the channel first.

The channel will get deeper

Section

The channel will keep getting

deeper until the sides start to fall in

Section

Then it starts to get wider

Now it is really starting to get bad

This is process is called the channel stages

Assessment Tool: Channel Stages
Good for collection and transport zone
Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Section

Test Time

STAGE 1

Headcut

STAGE 2

Channel downcutting creates

straighter, steeper gully.

widening

STAGE 3

Channel widening, cut

banks on both sides.

It is best to stop this

process early in Stage 2

To stop it: use a check dam

Stage 2

Profile

A check dam will keep the channel

from getting too deep

Profile

Check Dams
Lots of different types
Lots of different materials

Components of a check dam

A Check Dam must

Have a Control Section

Have a Energy Dissipation Section
Be Keyed into Channel Bottom
Be Keyed into Channel Bank
Be appropriately spaced
This introduction is going to cover the basics
You may want to get more detailed training

Control Section: Keeps

the water in the channel

Bank Key: Keeps

water from eroding
around check dam

Control Section should have the same area as a

stable section of the stream or gully.

Energy dissipation section should be two

times the structure height
Maximum height should be less than 1.5 m

2H

Key into channel bottom for a minimum of 60 cm

Key into channel bank for a minimum of 1 m
Top of check dam should be at least 30 cm below top
of channel
1m

60 cm
section

May need a
filter with log
check dams
Energy Dissipation
Section: Absorbs energy
as water flows over top.

Key into Channel

Bottom: Keeps
water from
eroding under
check dam

Same rules for all

types of check dams

Profile

The check dams work as a team

Downstream erosion might
undermine the upstream check
dam

Profile

Space so that the slope can be level

between the check dams and the
upstream one will not be
undermined.

Profile

Test Time
Question: What is wrong with this check dam

Answer: bank key and adjacent protection

Question: What is wrong with this check dam?

Answer: no control
section. Made worse
by bad bank key

Question: What is
wrong with this
check dam?

Answer: bank key in

Question:
What is
wrong with
this check
dam?

Answer: everything, bad spacing, no

control section, no bed or bank key
in, no energy dissipation

Question: What is
wrong with this
check dam?

Answer: nothing major

Question: What is
wrong with this
check dam?

Answer: nothing major

Question: What is
wrong with these
check dams?

Answer: nothing major

You need an engineer to help

with the design if:

The river has high velocities

The river is large
The erosion is significant
The river system is unstable
There is something very important on the bank
The project will cost a lot of money
Laws state you must have an engineer

The End