Storing water in sand gives communities water throughout the year
“The trick to a building a successful sand dam is to make sure that the community takes ownership of the project”, explained Cornelius Kyalo, the ASDF Executive Director. “While we provide the technical knowhow, it’s the community that provides the labour, sand, boulders, and, if necessary, water”.
The KenGen Team with Africa Sand Dam Foundation at Kyusyani Sand Dam, Kitui County. The Foundation works with like minded organisation to address water and sanitation issues within area’s of KenGen’s operations.
The dams are able to trap and store water in the sandy riverbed long after the seasonal rivers have disappeared. They are constructed by building a high concrete barrier across a seasonal river that is not too high to inhibit the downstream communities from receiving the water, and not too low to cause flooding in case of extreme rainfalls.
Fitted with a shallow well to access the water levels, the sand dam holds approximately 24,000,000 M2 of water annually, and benefits over 1,000 surrounding households for farming and livestock rearing.
Now a number of villages are planting and harvesting all year long. No sand harvesting is allowed at any sand dam site.
