These basins have enlarged cross-sections that creat slow tranquil flow and allow sediment to settle out. If correctly designed, settling basins can provide a comprehensive solution, and they can operate successfully where alternative measures for controlling sediments are ineffective - where either head or flows for flushing are unavailable or where sediments are relatively fine. Settling basins can prove expensive to operate when mechanical means are used remove the deposited sediments. However, if head is available, then sluicing a basin clear of deposited material is possible. Usually the sluiced sediments are then returned to the river from which the irrigation supplies were taken.
Correct design is crucial to settling basins operating effectively.
The models have been successfully tested against data collected at sites in China, Java, Thailand and the Sudan. This means that the software, which is normally released on either a commercial or academic basis, can be freely supplied to government agencies in developing countries.