Introduction to

Check Dams

Kabul, Afghanistan
February 2011

3
This watershed rehabilitation and restoration training was prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) team of Jon Fripp (Civil Engineer – USDA/NRCS), Melvin Westbrook
(Director USDA-NRCS/IPD), Otto Gonzalez (International Agricultural Development Specialist - USDA Foreign Agricultural Service), Clark Fleege, (Nursery Manager, USDA Forest
Service, and George Hernandez (Forester - USDA Forest Service), in consultation with Lief Christenson, (USA CJTF101 Water Resources Coordinator, Afghanistan). Contact Jon Fripp at
jon.fripp@ftw.usda.gov or Otto Gonzalez at Otto.Gonzalez@fas.usda.gov for more information on this workshop.
Module Topics:
• Purpose of Check Dams
• Design basics
• Design basics of a check dam in
collection zone
• Design overview of a check dam in
transport zone
Check Dams
•Typically used in Collection Zone
•Can also be used in Transport Zone (use caution!)
•Stop erosion
•Traps sediments and promotes infiltration
•Watershed rehabilitation
 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
 What else happens when a channel degrades?

Groundwater can drop

 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.
 STAGE 3
widening

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

shorter is better!

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
Same rules for all
water from types of check dams
eroding under
check dam
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.

 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: 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?

Same site
1+ years later

Answer: nothing major

 Rock and Brush Grade Stabilization

Arid areas
Excellent design
guidance is
available

Note the
basics remain
the same!
Check Dams
•Can Also be used in Transport Zone
But be careful!
•Prevents serious stream/river erosion
•Irrigation diversions
•Water supply
Rock Ramp
Largest stones are placed at crest
and on downstream face of structure
Rock Chute
Stone Sizing
For S < 0.1

For So less than 10%

D50 = 12 1.923qS ( )
1.5 0.529

0.10<S<0.40 For So between 10% and 40%

D50 = 12 0.233qS ( )
0.58 0.529

Robinson et. al, 1998

D50 in inches
Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Chevron Weir
Traditional or Rigid grade control and drop
structures

Figure 12.12 St. Anthony Falls (SAF) Type Drop Structure (Blaisdell, 1948)
Excellent design guidance is available for
the design of rigid drop structures

NEH 654 14G

Be Careful!!
• Especially in transport zone
• Interruption of sediment flow
• Upstream effects
• Fish Passage
Example Problem:
•Water backed up behind
irrigation diversion
•Water overtopped banks
•Flanked structure
•Damaged pasture land

• Flood Control
• Dam Safety Issues
• Bank Stability
• Infrastructure
 You need an engineer to help
with the design if:

• If project is in the transport zone

• 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
Questions?