A DISCUSSION OF THE CONSIDERATIONS REQUIRED FOR THE DESIGN OF SEDIMENT TRANSPORTING CHANNELS AS COMPONENTS OF A BRANCHING CANAL SYSTEM. ATTENTION IS GIVEN TO THE SELECTION OF COMPATIBLE APPROACHES FOR THE DETERMINATION OF CHANNEL GEOMETRY AND BED MATERIAL TRANSPORT CAPACITY TO BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH SEDIMENT ROUTING RELATIONS. A GENERALIZED PROCEDURE IS PRESENTED WHICH INCLUDES SEDIMENT EQUILIBRIUM CONSIDERATIONS AS A PART OF THE SYSTEM DESIGN CRITERIA. THE DEVELOPMENT OF METHODS CURRENTLY IN USE FOR THE DESIGN OF INDIVIDUAL CHANNELS IN ERODIBLE MATERIAL IS REVIEWED AS ARE VARIOUS COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES FOR THE ESTIMATION OF BED MATERIAL TRANSPORT CAPACITY. IN GENERAL, NO SPECIFIC APPROACH OR COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUE MAY BE CONSIDERED BEST FOR ALL APPLICATIONS DUE TO THE LARGE NUMBER OF VARIABLES INVOLVED, THE COMPLEXITY OF THEIR INTER-RELATION, AND THE VARIABILITY OF FIELD CONDITIONS. EMPHASIS THEREFORE IS PLACED ON THE CONCEPTS, ASSUMPTIONS, AND DATA ON WHICH A SPECIFIC METHOD IS BASED, RATHER THAN ON THE MECHANICS OF ITS APPLICATION.