The risk of dyke failure is mainly given in cases of critical water saturation (due to non effective sealing or drainage zone) and dyke crest overtopping (due to undervalued crest height, settlements or higher design water levels than expected). Safe cross-sections according to state of the art are characterized by the successful use of geosynthetic clay liners as alternative dike sealing element. After several years of service as sealing element at dikes in Germany, geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) have been exhumed and examined. The results of these in-service GCL analyses confirm the effectiveness. As an alternative to conventional construction designs for dike crest overflow, an enhanced geosynthetic application of soil reinforcement is taken into account. Different construction methods for the design of overflow dikes are presented. Some of the presented constructions were tested within a research project at Institute of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen. The results of these tests are briefly summarised.