Sand Dams

In the drier parts of Kenya, many people mine for water in the dry (seasonal) riverbeds. As you can see, this water is neither plentiful nor clean, however it is used by many when it is available because it is free. Those who have jobs or are more health-conscious may purchase water in town for 2-10 Kenya shillings/jerry can (jerry can=20 L can pictured below). The Kenya shilling is worth about $0.013US. The price of the water is dependent on how scarce the water is. The money seems a small amount to us, but if you have no income, purchasing water is a luxury requiring that something else be sacrificed. As the weather dries, the water seeps deeper and deeper into the riverbed until it is no longer available. When the water in the riverbed dries up, the people will be forced to buy water.



You can see that many of the water transporters are young. That is especially true when the schools are out for winter break (the month of August). But even during the school year, many children are expected to fetch water for the family before school, after school, or sometimes in lieu of school. In fact, one of the oft-mentioned benefits of the water projects we have installed is that more children have the time to attend school and school enrollment increases. The fortunate have bikes or donkeys (right background) to carry the heavy loads of water. The aim of any project done by LDS Charities (Humanitarian arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is to strengthen people, i.e. teach them to fish rather than give them fish. Consequently, we require that the beneficiaries contribute to the project. By this we hope to accomplish: teaching the community to work together for a common purpose, giving them a feeling of investment in and ownership of the project. As a side benefit for us, the cost of the project is reduced, but that is a minor reason for requiring community involvment.

LDS Charities hires contractors to supervise the project. We also find the most likely site for the sand dam, mobilize the community, and provide the materials the beneficiaries cannot provide.

Community involvement: Some women will cook meals for those who are working. This woman is cooking in the riverbed. Note the 2 types of pots boiling and the containers of water nearby. She is cooking a stew beans and corn that takes a lot of cooking time but is cheap and nutritious.

These are some of the beneficiaries pictured: some are digging the hole for the footing of the dam. In the background you can see another community member pounding large rocks into smaller rocks (smaller rocks provide more stable fill than do larger rocks). The women carry the rocks to the site where they will be used. Kenyan women are strong and are the ones who carry most of the burdens.

You can see the mostly finished dam above. I am learning how the dam is constructed from one of the contractors. The dam must be placed where there are anchoring rocks on either side of the riverbed. Wooden forms are built, the rebar (twisted metal reinforcing bars = rebar) inserted. Forms are then filled with rock (pounded by hand into small sizes). The concrete is mixed with sand and water both provided by the community from the nearby riverbed. The mixed cement is then poured into the wooden form, where it fills in the spaces between rock and rebar. The forms are removed when the cement dries.

During the rainy seasons (2 of them/year) the dams will retain the water for 1-4 months depending on the size of the dam, the strength of the river, and the amount of rainfall.

A pipe (pictured) is inserted into a hole created at the bottom of the dam. The pipe extends out from both sides of the dam. On the upriver side, the pipe is laid in a bed of rock which is intended to filter out large particulate matter; the pipe is also punched with holes so that the maximum amount of water can get into the upriver-portion of the pipe. During the rainy season, water and mud are swept downstream towards the dam, and the upriver side of the dam will fill with water...and sand/mud. The pipe will transport the sinking rain water through the upriver pipe to the downriver portion of the pipe where it can be collected into jerry cans by the community. Some communities have installed taps or plastic fittings to close off the constant flow of water on the downriver side. In this way, the water stays in the dam as long as possible.