A post about the problems with climate change leading to extreme rainfall events reminded me of this concept. I saw a great video about it years ago, and I couldn't find it, so I am just linking a journal article about the concept.

The TL;DR is that we need to be doing as much as we can to slow water down on the land.

Giant dams across rivers, while useful for flood mitigation and power generation, are ecologically harmful. Small structures, essentially providing resistance to flow of temporary streams, have a whole giant host of benefits, from decreased erosion to increased water infiltration and water sequestration.

If you live somewhere arid (or honestly in many places that are now experiencing more eratic rainfall), you should think about where you could potentially use one or more of these strategies.