The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Helping to protect scarce water
South East Kenya is a tough place to live. Ninety-five per cent of the population (more than 840,000 people) are rural farmers living below the poverty line. Water shortage is a serious problem since they depend on rain-fed agriculture to survive.
More than 200 Rotary Clubs came together in a major nationwide project to address the problem of drought and food shortage. Their fundraising efforts supported the construction of 51 sand dam projects, enabling communities to become food and water secure.
Over 101,364 people now have access to clean water. Many local Rotary Clubs have been working with a UK registered charity helping the community at Wendo wa Matoki to build their sand dam.
This will give them access to clean water for drinking and sustainable agriculture, allowing them to grow more food to eat, store and sell.
Despite annual rainfall similar to the UK, rains come in a couple of short flood periods. Most runs off the bone dry land taking fertile soil with it. Climate change is causing longer droughts and heavier floods. Sand dams typically store up to 20 million litres of water, providing a local, reliable supply of water, transforming drylands and people’s lives. Women and children no longer have to walk hours in search of water, typically 10km away. Having a local, year-round water supply not only means people have more time to spend on farming but the water can be used to support tree planting, vegetable growing and even provide water points for livestock.
Having local water benefits children. They can attend school more often, no longer needing to miss classes helping with water collection. The availability of fruit and vegetables gives them a more nutritious diet, improving their health and concentration at school. The dam construction work is all done by members of the local self-help group (SHG), guided by craftsmen who are responsible for building the timber framework.
Our SHG has 35 active members (23 of whom are women). After construction is completed, the timber shuttering is removed. Barbed wire used to reinforce the structure is trimmed and any holes or exposed rocks plastered with mortar. To help the sand damreachmaximumstrength and to prevent shrinking and cracking, the dam is watered to ‘cure the cement’ for four weeks after construction. Keeping the dam hydrated in this way lets the cement and sand particles bond together.
How does a sand dam work? Sand accumulates behind the dam. The water is stored within the sand so is protected from evaporation losses.