Project Status



Project Type:  Sand Dam

Regional Program: Southeastern Kenya WaSH Program

Impact: 455 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Feb 2025

Functionality Status:  Functional

Project Features


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Community Profile

Report Submitted by
Jefferson Mutie, Communications Officer

The 755 community members who live in Nzakya struggle each day to collect sufficient water to meet their needs.

When field officer Jefferson Mutie described the semi-arid region's struggles with water, he said, "Growing water demand and scarcity have turned into a notable challenge in Kenya. Climate change, population growth, urbanization, water pollution, and poor management of water resources have aggravated the issue of the water crisis, which affects economic activities, food security, education, and health. These challenges are especially evident in rural areas of Southeast Kenya where people are often unable to get clean water."

For the community members living in Nzakya, who love where they live, the water crisis is nothing new, but they are tired of using all of their energy collecting water instead of making significant progress in their lives.

"Life is good in this village. Since I was married here, I found [it] a peaceful village [and] very beautiful. Water was the main headache and still is the worst challenge which we face here. I wake up very early and set off for water [from] the dam. The trek is risky and dangerous," said 43-year-old farmer Peris Nduku, seen below collecting water with her baby on her back.

"I feel offended living in a community whereby women lack the opportunity to get water easily and fast. I am very hopeful that in [the] future, we shall have water security. We shall have women enjoying fetching water and fostering relationships in the family. I am thinking of having a community that has no water-related diseases and no more sicknesses," said Peris.

The primary water source in this community is an earthen dam. Collecting water from the dam is a task mostly left to the adults since it is a dangerous large body of water not close to home. Yet, when families need water to meet their basic needs, and parents are busy producing incomes and maintaining their households, they must take the risk and send older children to collect water.

"My parents like sending me to the dam, which is dangerous and far. This happens after I come back from school, and it forces me to have no time to study and do my homework," said 17-year-old Muli P. Seen below.

But like most bodies of water in Southeast Kenya, particularly the smaller ones, they are prone to drying up when it is not the rainy season, leaving people to search for water elsewhere.

"When the water is very scarce, we opt to rush to River Migwani, which is miles away. The journey is never sweet [and] no one wants to experience it. I would feel very happy to see myself collect water very fast and come back to do my activities back at home. I love playing soccer, which I fail to have time to do," concluded Muli.

Installing a sand dam will enable community members like Muli and Peris to have quick, safe access to water so they can collect all the water they need to meet their daily needs. Hopefully, this will give them the time and energy to improve their daily lives and dream about changes they can implement in the future.

Helping to solve the water crisis in this community will take a multi-faceted system. It requires the collaboration of the sand dam and a dug well. They will work together to create a sustainable water source that will serve this community for years to come.

The Proposed Solution, Determined Together...

At The Water Project, everyone has a part in conversations and solutions. We operate in transparency, believing it benefits everyone. We expect reliability from one another as well as our water solutions. Everyone involved makes this possible through hard work and dedication.

In a joint discovery process, community members determine their most advantageous water solution alongside our technical experts. Read more specifics about this solution on the What We're Building tab of this project page. Then, community members lend their support by collecting needed construction materials (sometimes for months ahead of time!), providing labor alongside our artisans, sheltering and feeding the builders, and supplying additional resources.

Water Access for Everyone

This water project is one piece in a large puzzle. In Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, we're working toward complete coverage of reliable, maintained water sources that guarantee public access now and in the future within a 30-minute round trip for each community, household, school, and health center. One day, we hope to report that this has been achieved!

Training on Health, Hygiene & More

With the community's input, we've identified topics where training will increase positive health outcomes at personal, household, and community levels. We'll coordinate with them to find the best training date. Some examples of what we train communities on are:

  • Improved hygiene, health, and sanitation habits
  • Safe water handling, storage & treatment
  • Disease prevention and proper handwashing
  • Income-generation
  • Community leadership, governance, & election of a water committee
  • Operation and maintenance of the water point

Project Updates


February, 2025: Nzakya Community Sand Dam Complete!

Nzakya, Kenya now has access to a new water source thanks to your donation! We constructed a sand dam on the riverbed, which will raise the water table and naturally filter water over time. We also built a new hand-dug well with a hand pump adjacent to the sand dam, providing the community with a safer method to draw the drinking water supplied by the dam.

"Our children will be drinking clean water throughout the day, which will improve their health. Moreover, I will plant various vegetables at home because I now have water to irrigate them; thus, my children will be eating a balanced diet to improve their nutrition. Through the sale of these vegetables and other crops, I will get money to pay for children's school fees, which will enable [them] to attend school every day and improve their grades. I can easily access this implemented water source then go back home; thus, I will be spending more time with the young ones and improve their social welfare," said 32-year-old farmer Mercy Muthami.

Mercy drinks water from the well attached to the sand dam.

"I will have more time to cultivate my land and grow vegetables, as well as various crops that I can sell and eek out an income. I will also be taking care of my cattle and goats, who will easily drink water here without having to go far away, which will improve their health and yield," Mercy continued.

Sand Dam Construction

The members of the Self-Help Group collected all of the local materials, like rocks and sand, required to complete the dam. The collection of raw materials takes longer than the actual construction, lasting up to four months for a large sand dam. The group also dedicated their time to support our artisans with a tremendous amount of physical labor throughout the project.

First, our team drew up siting and technical designs and presented them to the Water Resources Management Authority. We then sent a survey to the National Environment Management Authority for approval before beginning construction.

Once the plans were approved, we established a firm base for the sand dam wall. Usually, this requires the community to dig all the way down to the bedrock beneath the river channel. In the absence of good bedrock, we excavate to a depth at which the ground is compact enough to stop seepage.

Next, we heaped mortar (a mixture of sand, cement, and water) into the foundation, followed by rocks. We then used barbed wire and rebar to reinforce the mixture.

Once the foundation was complete, we built a timber skeleton to hold the structure above ground level. We repeated the process until reaching a sufficient height, width, and length.

Finally, we dismantled the vertical timber beams and left the dam to cure. This dam measures 45 meters long and 4 meters high and took 1250 bags of cement.

 

When the rains come, sand and silt will be carried down the dry riverbed and build up behind the dam wall. This reservoir of sand acts as a giant natural filter, and allows rainwater to seep into the ground and raise the water table. With this water, the surrounding landscape will become lush and fertile, and the well will provide drinking water to the community. It could take up to three years of rain for this sand dam to reach maximum capacity because in this region, sometimes it only rains once a year!

Community Education

Our trainer worked with the field staff and community members to determine which topics the community could improve upon.

As we’ve worked with this Self-Help Group in the past, we asked them about the subjects they needed refresher training on.

A favorite training session was the soap-making activity. The facilitators shared with the group that using soap and latrine disinfectants is crucial for environmental hygiene. By the end of the training, the group had made forty liters of soap and twenty liters of latrine disinfectant.

We trained the group on various skills, including bookkeeping, financial management, project management, group dynamics, and governance. We conducted hygiene and sanitation training to teach skills like soap and detergent-making and improve habits, such as handwashing.

We covered health problems in the community, good and bad hygiene habits, and the prevention of disease. Finally, we covered natural resource management as well as the operation and maintenance of the sand dam.

"The design of the tippy tap (handwashing station) that was demonstrated is more hygienic and easy to use than the one some of us have been [using]. We will improve to the new one and ensure that we wash our hands more often than we used to do before since we now know the most critical moments for handwashing. Our income will go high since now we have a new skill in soap and latrine disinfectant making. If the skill is well practiced, it will help us improve on hygiene and income both at [the] group and personal level," said 68-year-old John Mukala.

John.

Thank you for making all of this possible!




January, 2025: Exciting Progress in Nzakya Community!

We’re thrilled to share that, thanks to your generous support, significant change is coming for Peris and the entire Nzakya Community. Construction has begun on the sand dam project, bringing them one step closer to having clean, reliable water.

But that's not all—during construction, we’re also providing vital health training. These sessions equip the community with essential hygiene practices, ensuring that the benefits of clean water extend to lasting health improvements.

We’re so grateful for your role in making this possible. Stay tuned for more updates—soon, we’ll be celebrating the arrival of safe water in the Nzakya Community!




Project Photos


Project Type

Sand dams are huge, impressive structures built into the riverbeds of seasonal rivers (rivers that disappear every year during dry seasons). Instead of holding back a reservoir of water like a traditional dam would, sand dams accumulate a reservoir of silt and sand. Once the rain comes, the sand will capture 1-3% of the river’s flow, allowing most of the water to pass over. Then, we construct shallow wells on the riverbank to provide water even when the river has dried up, thanks to new groundwater reserves. Learn more here!


Contributors

Accelerator Match
2 individual donor(s)