Rock Dams

Capturing water in the desert:

Turkana is a remote semi-arid region in Northwest Kenya larger than the island of Ireland which the travel writer Charles Miller described as a ‘horizonless frying pan of desolation…with temperatures often reaching 45 degrees in the shade.’

Partnership

Aidlink, working in partnership with its strategic partner The Diocese of Lodwar (DofL), has primarily focused on water programmes in Turkana, although this has broadened over the years to encompass primary health care, return to education programmes for vulnerable youth and innovative agriculture projects (shambas). Rock dams and earth pans were quickly identified by the local inhabitants (in conjunction with the DofL) as a vital means of capturing water in the region.

18 Rock dams in 5 years

 This Aidlink-funded dam (pictured here) holding over 150,000m3 of water, is one of 18 dams built by the DofL over the last 5 years which have transformed the area. Over 3900 families, everyone within a 15km radius, has access to this particular dam and benefits directly from it. Families can safely and easily access clean water from specially designed taps fitted to the dam walls and women and girls, the traditional water carriers, now have far shorter walks to access safe water.

The livestock of the community, the traditional camels, goats and donkeys, have also benefited as overflow pools create natural drinking sources for them. This has led to increased food availability as the survival rate of the livestock has increased, milk production has increased and the sale value of the animals has also increased. Fish have also been introduced to the dams and this has led to an overall improvement in the nutritional intake of the dam project participant families.

“An Independent Impact Assessment has shown that this

has all led to greatly reduced mortality rates, particularly

for children under 5 years of age.”