Community members carrying stones for sand dam construction
Utooni Development Organization
Road Map for Sand dam implementation
Practical implementation steps include:
- Site selection and community involvement;
- Engineering and design;
- Water use assessment;
- Excavation and construction;
- Operation and maintenance (establishment of water management process, including: Water committee, care takers and provision of trainings)
- Monitoring and evaluation
- The presence of communities (nomads or permanently during dry period)
- The slope of the river beds: the most suitable locations have a slope between 2 to 4 percent)
- Average width of the river, which should not exceed 25-50 meter
- The rivers should be underlain by bedrock
- Strong raised river banks
The sand dam construction process is always unique for each site since it depends on topography, availability of local materials and community participation.