Scaling sand dams in Southern Africa: policy guidance for optimizing rollout within an integrated water storage framework

Southern Africa’s dryland regions face growing water insecurity due to recurrent droughts, erratic rainfall, and delayed wet seasons. Sand dams—small structures that capture and store water within sand-filled riverbeds—offer a reliable, low-maintenance source of water for domestic and productive uses in these semi-arid landscapes. Drawing on new field evidence and modelling from Zimbabwe’s Shashe catchment, this policy brief assesses sand dam performance, benefits, and enabling conditions to inform their strategic scaling.

Findings show that properly sited, designed, and managed sand dams can substantially improve local water access, particularly during the early dry season, thereby enhancing community resilience to climate variability. However, their storage potential is modest at the catchment scale and must be viewed within a broader framework of integrated water storage and conjunctive use. Embedding these lessons into policy and investment planning will help governments and their partners expand sand dams strategically, maximizing their contribution to water security and climate resilience across Southern Africa.

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