Catching Rain: Sand Dams and Other Strategies for Developing Locally Resilient Water Supplies in Semiarid Areas of Kenya

Teel, Wayne S.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-12974-3_15

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Sand dams also serve road crossings in rural areas of Africa [29]. In some areas, the cost of a sand dam is much less than a water borehole [49]. Because of minimal maintenance and long life, sand dams frequently retain their effectiveness for many decades up to a century [39].…”

Section: Sand Dam Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sand dams are built using locally available materials, including stone, concrete, stone masonry, gabion with clay core, gabion with clay cover, and stone-fill concrete [23,55]. However, most sand dams are concrete structures between 10 and 100 m wide and 1 to 6 m high [49,55,79]. Regardless of type, sand dams are built to allow over-topping by floods but watertight and founded on an unweathered solid rock to prevent a structural failure of the dam wall [39].…”

Section: Design Construction Maintenance and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Water scarcity and lack of improved drinking water affect the overall socio-economic activities of a community. In rural parts of Africa, it is common for people, mainly women and children, to travel more than 3 h to get water [49]. In this regard, compared to the no sand dam cases, the impact of a sand dam is significant-it encourages permanent settlement of the community, increases food production, and improves ecological health [25,78].…”

Section: Socio-economic Impacts Of a Sand Dammentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Improves the vegetation cover in the area, supply of water for livestock, wildlife, and small-scale irrigation and increases food production and income [25,49,67,80]; 3.…”

Section: Socio-economic Impacts Of a Sand Dammentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Estimating the volume of water that can be stored behind a sand dam is challenging for practitioners, as there is no proven applicable formula [49]. There is also a lack of cost-efficiency reports of the constructed sand dams [7,17].…”

Section: Storage Capacity and Cost-efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Water Storage in Dry Riverbeds of Arid and Semi-Arid Regions: Overview, Challenges, and Prospects of Sand Dam Technology

et al. 2021

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Augmenting water availability using water-harvesting structures is of importance in arid and semi-arid regions (ASARs). This paper provides an overview and examines challenges and prospects of the sand dam application in dry riverbeds of ASARs. The technology filters and protects water from contamination and evaporation with low to no maintenance cost. Sand dams improve the socio-economy of the community and help to cope with drought and climate change. However, success depends on the site selection, design, and construction. The ideal site for a sand dam is at a transition between mountains and plains, with no bend, intermediate slope, and impermeable riverbed in a catchment with a slope greater than 2°. The spillway dimensioning considers the flow velocity, sediment properties, and storage target, and the construction is in multi-stages. Recently, the failure of several sand dams because of incorrect siting, evaporation loss, and one-stage construction were reported. Revision of practitioners’ manuals by considering catchment scale hydrological and hydrogeological characteristics, spillway height, and sediment transport are recommended. Research shows that protected wells have better water quality than open wells and scoop holes. Therefore, the community should avoid open defecation, pit latrines, tethering of animals, and applying pesticides near the sand dam.

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Section: Sand Dam Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design Construction Maintenance and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Socio-economic Impacts Of a Sand Dammentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Improves the vegetation cover in the area, supply of water for livestock, wildlife, and small-scale irrigation and increases food production and income [25,49,67,80]; 3.…”

Section: Socio-economic Impacts Of a Sand Dammentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Storage Capacity and Cost-efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Water Storage in Dry Riverbeds of Arid and Semi-Arid Regions: Overview, Challenges, and Prospects of Sand Dam Technology

et al. 2021

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Large‐scale siting of sand dams: A participatory approach and application in Angolan drylands

et al. 2022

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Sand dams are simple and effective structures built across ephemeral riverbeds in arid/ semiarid regions to harvest water within sand pores and increase water availability and quality for rural communities. The complex morphological, hydrological, social, and economic conditions that make sand dams a beneficial tool for water resilience are largely influenced by the siting phase. Proper location of a sand dam can reduce communities' travel time to water points, reduce water conflicts, and increase food security through expansion of irrigated agriculture. On the other hand, a misplacement of sand dams can, at worst, increase disparities in water access and increase local conflicts. To approach a viable siting of sand dams, most projects are developed and delivered with the community through a bottom-up approach. However, in the case of large-scale projects, remote sensing and biophysical analysis are the dominant approach, leaving the socio-economic component at the margins of the siting strategy and eventually affecting the benefits to local communities. In this paper, we propose a large-scale participatory methodology to sand dams siting, which draws on mixed-methods connecting the conventional top-down biophysical analysis with bottom-up participatory research. We first describe the generic approach developed for sand dams siting in Namibe, a semi-arid region of Southwest of Angola, then we draw on our case to propose a generic approach to large-scale participatory siting beyond Namibe.

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Learning from indigenous and local knowledge: The deep history of nature-based solutions

Cassin

Ochoa‐Tocachi

2021

Nature-Based Solutions and Water Security

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Catching Rain: Sand Dams and Other Strategies for Developing Locally Resilient Water Supplies in Semiarid Areas of Kenya

Cited by 8 publications

References 1 publication

Water Storage in Dry Riverbeds of Arid and Semi-Arid Regions: Overview, Challenges, and Prospects of Sand Dam Technology

Water Storage in Dry Riverbeds of Arid and Semi-Arid Regions: Overview, Challenges, and Prospects of Sand Dam Technology

Large‐scale siting of sand dams: A participatory approach and application in Angolan drylands

Learning from indigenous and local knowledge: The deep history of nature-based solutions

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