Dams are man-made structures that are designed to control the flow of water in a river or other waterway. Dams provide an important means of managing and utilizing water resources for the benefit of society, but it is important to weigh their benefits against their potential environmental and social impacts.

1. Types of Dams
Dams are water reservoirs or just
a wall-like structure built across a
river to retain the water and
increase the flow when needed,
used for electricity generation,
and various other functions.

2. Arch dam
An arch dam is a concrete dam
that is curved upstream in plan.
The arch dam is designed so that
the force of the water against it.
Arch Dams are quite suitable for
narrow, steep-sided valleys.

3. Embankment dam
An embankment dam is a large
artificial dam. It is typically
created by the placement and
compaction of a complex semi-
plastic mound of various
compositions of soil or rock.

4. Gravity dam
A gravity dam is a structure
designed to withstand loads by its
own weight and by its resistance
to sliding and overturning on its
foundation.

5. Buttress dam
A buttress dam or hollow dam is a
dam with a solid, water-tight
upstream side that is supported at
intervals on the downstream side
by a series of buttresses. They can
be constructed on weak
foundation because they are less
massive than gravity dams.

6. Coffer dam
A cofferdam is an enclosure built
within a body of water to allow
the enclosed area to be pumped
out. Cofferdams are temporary
structures used they are most
commonly used to facilitate the
construction or repair of dams,
piers and bridges.

7. Diversion dam
Diversion is the sometimes
permanent, but most often
temporary, re-routing of water from
its original location. It used to divert
the portion of flow of a river from its
natural course. A diversion dam
serves the purpose of raising the
eater level in order to redirect the
water to the required destination.

8. Hydropower dam
Hydropower is a method of
sustainable energy production.
Hydropower is now used principally
for hydroelectric power generation.
The efficiency of today's
hydroelectric plant is about 90
percent.

9. Industrial waste dam
An embankment dam, usually built
in stages, to create storage for the
disposal of waste products from an
industrial process. The waste
products are conveyed as fine
material suspended in water to the
reservoir impounded by the
embankment.

10. Masonry dam
Masonry dams are dams made out of
masonry – mainly stone and brick,
sometimes joined with mortar. They
are either the gravity or the arch-
gravity type. It designed to hold back
water by using only the weight of the
material and its resistance against the
foundation to oppose the horizontal
pressure of water pushing against it.

11. Overflow dam
The overflow dam is a dam that
allows surplus water over its crest to
flow downstream. In overflow dams,
the water flows over the top. It is
designed to store water and allow
surplus water to flow downstream
into the riverbed. The overflow dam
is a type of Hydraulic Dam.

12. Regulating dam
A dam impounding a reservoir from
which water is released to regulate
the flow downstream.

13. Saddle dam
Saddle dam is given to a water
barrier built in a topographic
depression or gap on the rim of a
reservoir. Some saddle dams limit a
reservoir and increase its efficiency.
Saddle dams are placed in a low spot
to prevent the inundation of nearby
land.

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