Headworks in rivers with severe sediment transport can suffer from poor sediment control and poor techniques for removal of the sediments in the withdrawn water. Reliable physical modelling of the phenomena involved has always been a problem. These facts, often combined with relaxed operational attention, invariably lead to the blocking of intakes, channels, ponds and forebays by deposits of silt, sand, gravel and sometimes rock. This article deals with numerical analysis as a planning tool, and new techniques for removal of sediments. The authors comment on appropriate operational procedures.