Storing water in sand gives communities water throughout the year

To outsiders, there is little hope to many parts of Kitui County. Poor weather patterns have seemingly rendered the community to the deplorable fate of constant water shortage. But the situation is different in some villages, thanks to simple rainwater harvesting innovations called sand dams.

The KenGen team was on a ‘look and learn’ tour of Kitui to find out how these strutures are playing a key role of improving livelihoods in extremely dry and hostile areas. Our hosts were the sand dam experts, the African Sand Dam Foundation which to date have in their records hundreds of sand dams transforming many lives in Kenya and other parts of the continent.

Branching off right in the heart on Mwingi town towards Mulanga sub-location, the team arrived at the Ivutuka sand dam to get a first hand experience of how ingenious and sustainable provision of water can improve livelihoods.

Communities in many parts of the counties of Kitui, Machakos, and Embu need water for crop irrigation, not to mention drinking and other domestic use. But their main rivers flow only seasonally.