Kitui embarks on countywide hand over of sand dams construction sites
By Jael Mutawali, August 8, 2024The Kitui County government has commenced a countywide handing over of construction sites for sand dams in an effort to address the perennial water challenges.
The sites handover is being undertaken by the department of Energy, Environment, Climate Change, Forestry, Natural, and Mineral Resources.
Speaking in Kitui West where he handed over some of the sites yesterday, the Chief Officer for Environment, Climate Change, and Forestry, David Soi said the initiative, which is part of part of financially locally led climate action programme (FLLoCA) marks a significant step towards combating water scarcity in the county while at the same time addressing the effects of climate change.
In Kitui West, the sand dam sites already handed over to contractors include the Kwa Musee sand dam in Musosa village and the Maindu kwa Ndinga sand dam situated at Kwa Mulungu village.
During the handover ceremony, Masai presented appointment letters to six newly appointed members of the Ward Grievance Redress Mechanism Committee.
He also handed the community a complaint investigation register to ensure transparency and accountability throughout the projects implementation.
“The sand dam projects will have great impact on the county residents by supporting food production through small scale irrigation, environmental conservation, livestock rearing, sustainable sand harvesting,” the officer said during the event also attended by Kithumula/Kwa Mutonga MCA Paul Maluki and an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) expert from NEMA.
The chief officer said the initiative underscores governor Julius Malombe’s commitment towards making the county water and food secure and improving people’s livelihoods.
The Malombe administration has rolled out an elaborate programme to construct hundreds of sand dams in seasonal rivers across the vast county, with some of the initially built sand dams already providing water for both domestic use and livestock.
A sand dam is a concrete wall structure across a seasonal river bed. It works by slowing down the flow of water thus causing sand and sediment to settle and accumulate behind the wall which then allows water to seep through and get stored underground.
Kitui is an ideal region for the water structures due to its winding network of seasonal rivers. A team from the World Bank last year toured some of the constructed sand dams by the county government and offered to partner with Malombe’s administration in addressing the water challenges for the county residents.