News

Water minister admits country lacks capacity to harvest, store commodity

Thursday, December 5th, 2019 00:00 |
Floos
Mombasa residents brave the floods. PHOTO/FILE

If the current rains pounding  many parts of the country came  down again at the  same period next year, it would still wash away, and leave a trail of destruction as is  being witnessed now.

The situation would repeat itself as revelations emerged that  57 dams earmarked for construction  to harvest rain water are less than 30 per cent complete.

Water Cabinet Secretary  Simon Chelugui  admitted on Monday that the same situation would recur because the country lacks the capacity to harvest and store rain water.

He said the ministry is re-looking at the structural designs for a number of dams that were earmarked for rain water tapping and storage.

Poor foundation

They have a poor foundation; do not meet the required standards, and are likely to delay in completion. Ironically, construction for most of them started in 2016. Chelugui said the country may unfortunately not be able to tap the rain water.

 “The collapse of the Solai dam in Nakuru last year sent us to the drawing board. We found that the dam broke its banks because of poor structural designs, and this has to be addressed,” he added.

Last year, he said, the ministry also looked at structural designs for some of the dams, and discovered hydrological designs and even feasibility studies were not done well.

More on National


ADVERTISEMENT