Water is Life!

There are many experiences that have had a significant impact on us during these past ten weeks, but what has touched us the most is the severity of the drought and the consequent distances that people must travel in order to obtain water for their daily consumption and use.

While there is adequate water in the cities and towns that are served by water systems, the people we serve either live in very small rural villages or are scattered across the countryside.  For them, water is a scarcity!  River beds are dry and the few water lines that reach some of these areas provide a minimal and sporadic water supply.  This water must be bought with shillings (the local currency), which are scarce and needed for other basic necessities.

Numerous efforts have been made over the years to provide these people with a reliable source of water.  We have seen water tanks in various communities but they are small and often empty; attempts at boreholes (deep wells) in this area have produced water that is too salty for human and livestock consumption; and there is an absence of seasonal rivers in which sand dams could be constructed (effective in some parts of Kenya).  We are told that the best solution for the three counties where we work is to construct water pans.  As a result, our Food for Asset project is zeroing in on their construction (or rehabilitation) in exchange for beneficiaries receiving their monthly allocation of food.

What is a water pan?  By means of both this week and next week’s blog we hope to give you some insights into what is involved in constructing a water pan – from early stages of a basic water pan to a more sophisticated project that one community is working on.  To picture a water pan, think of a very large pond – basically a large surface-water storage structure.  A water pan is strategically located across a natural drainage channel so that, during both the ‘short rains’ (October/November) and the ‘long rains’ (March/April), surface water will flow into it.  In some locations, where a small river is nearby, the water flow can be diverted into the water pan to fill it up, and then continue its course again downstream.  Since it is not artificially lined, another important consideration in site selection is a location with impervious soil – to prevent seepage.

In these communities, the water pan is excavated manually.  Ideally the pan is excavated to a depth of nine to ten feet.  With the exception of the first foot of soil, which is not suitable for compaction, the excavated soil is used to build an embankment around the pan to provide extra storage capacity.  The embankments around the pan are quite wide and strong in order to contain the water.  There is also a spillway or diversion to allow excess water to escape, preventing the embankments from being breached.  We have enclosed a drawing that will help depict what we have been attempting to describe.

In exchange for one month’s supply of food, beneficiaries are required to perform ten days of labour.  One day’s labour consists of either:

• excavating and removing an area of dirt that is two metres by two metres by one foot deep (don’t ask why 2 different systems of measure are used!), or
• ‘ramming’ (compacting) a cubic metre of soil that is deposited on the embankments.

While some exceptions are made for a limited number of households, the vast majority of beneficiaries meet this commitment each month in order to remain on the beneficiary list.

Some of the water pans are new, while others are existing ones requiring significant rehabilitation or expansion.  Although there are 17 ‘main’ water pans being worked on, which are associated with our 17 food distribution locations, there are an additional 32 pans which are being worked on.  The reason for this is the extreme distances that some people would have to walk (in excess of 3 or 4 hours one way) if they were only to work on the 17 ‘main’ locations.

We have enclosed a number of pictures which show some of the initial clearing, excavation, and construction at some of the sites we have visited.  Next week we will share some more information and stories about the water pans and the people working at them.

As we conclude, we once again want to thank everyone who has either commented on our blog or sent us an email!  We are amazed at how much your comments, your encouragement, and your interest in our project means to us…and how much we depend on them!  Thank you!