Check dams

From LID SWM Planning and Design Guide
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Check dams are small dams or weirs constructed across a drainage ditch, swale, or channel to lower the speed of concentrated flows for a certain design range of storm events and to promote infiltration.

  • Check dams usually consist of crushed rock gabions, or pre-treated timber up to 0.6 m in height.
  • Rocks used in check dams should have median diameter 25-75 mm.
  • The spacing of dams should not exceed the horizontal distance from the toe of the upstream dam to the same elevation on the downstream dam. See: Sizing
  • Where check dams are used, the maximum design depth of ponded water must be 0.5 m.

Sizing[edit]

Check dams: Sizing