Feasibility Criteria For Small Dams
Feasibility Criteria For Small Dams
Feasibility Criteria For Small Dams
Further, any project that involves the community needs their full support. When
considering the feasibility for any project it is important to establish that the
community has the motivation and capacity to plan, implement, operate and maintain
it. The best projects are usually those identified by community groups and
implemented by community members. This instils a greater sense of ownership by the
community, who are then more likely to engage in the active maintenance of the dam,
reservoir and catchment area.
• Will the water be clean enough, and if not, can the quality be improved?
• How much water is needed?
• How much water will the new source provide?
• What will the project cost and is this affordable?
While this water is suitable for watering livestock, or for small scale irrigation, and
construction work, it is not safe for drinking. If the purpose of a small dam is to get
clean water for domestic purposes, then the water should be drawn from a hand-dug
well sunk in a seepage line downstream of the dam wall.
Drinking untreated water from open water sources is not recommended, unless it has
first been boiled, or sterilized by the sun’s ultraviolet rays in a transparent bottle for 6
hours of sunshine. This technique is called SODIS (= SOlar DISinfection of water).
Drinking water that has not been treated by either boiling or SODIS may lead to
waterborne diseases such as dysentery, diarrhoea or typhoid. If waterborne diseases,
such as Schistosomiasis (Bilharzia) carried by water snails is present in the area,
people should be discouraged from entering the water.
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2.4 Water requirements
To estimate how much water is required and for how long, some simple calculations
are required. The demand for water for domestic purposes, livestock and irrigation
can be estimated as shown below.
In this case we assume that the stored water will be needed for a dry season of 180
days in an ASAL region, although this figure will vary in different localities. The
following tables are examples of water use based on a family of 8 people, with 2 milk
cows, 10 Zebu cattle, 14 sheep, 10 goats, 3 pigs and ¼ acre of land under drip
irrigation.
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It is difficult to estimate the water requirement for irrigation because it depends on the
type of irrigation method used, the soil type, climate, crop type and its growing
period. For example, bucket irrigation of vegetables requires about double the volume
of water required for drip irrigation. Table 3 illustrates the water requirement for
tomato/kale production using drip irrigation on a 1/4 acre.
Domestic water for a household for 180 days 20, 160 litres
Drip irrigation of 1/4 acre for one growing season 90,000 litres
The total water requirement is estimated as 200,160 litres which can be converted into
cubic metres by dividing the figure by 1,000 as follows; 200,160 litres / 1,000 =
200.16 cubic metres, say 200 m3.
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To determine the total water storage requirement needed to meet a demand of 200 m3
for ¼ acre per year two other factors, evaporation and seepage causing natural losses
from any open reservoir need to be taken into account.
• Evaporation loss can remove up 2.5 metres depth of water per year from an open
dam reservoir in a hot climate, although for a good estimate of this loss the
evaporation rate in the specific location and the surface area of water must be
known. A useful rule of thumb, is that about 50% of the water in a reservoir is lost
each year to evaporation.
• Seepage loss is also difficult to estimate because dam reservoirs are built of
various soil types which result in varying degrees of seepage. Nevertheless,
another common rule of thumb states that seepage may account for about half that
of evaporation (or 25% of the water in a reservoir).
On the basis of the above rules of thumb, it can be concluded that if 200 m3 of water is
required, then the water reservoir should have a storage capacity of 800 m3 to cater
for an evaporation loss of 400 m3 and seepage loss of 200 m3.
The data from table 5 shows that a reservoir needs to be four times as large as the
estimated total water requirement to allow for evaporation and seepage losses.
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Type of Construction Reservoir Water Excavat- Cost Total Cost Cost per
Dam Method * volume to Soil ed Soil per Ksh. m3 of
m3 Ratio m3 m3 water
storage
Ksh.
Excavated
tank Manual 100 1:1 100 x 100 = 10,000 100
Economic benefits will include the value of labour and time saved fetching water and
watering livestock. Benefits may also result from improvements in the condition of
livestock and small stock, cash from sale of irrigated farm produce and value of food
grown for the household.
Where technically feasible, the best option is a small hillside dam constructed with a
reservoir volume of 500 m3. Although not the cheapest option for each cubic metre of
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water storage capacity created, it is the most affordable. It will only cost Ksh19,980 if
oxen are used. In one good rainy season it could potentially fill up with water, and
could produce savings and cash income worth about Ksh 10,000. Thus it could pay
for itself in just over two years, thus being a good investment of time and resources.
Total Income from a 500 m3 water reservoir after a rainy season 10,000
Expenditure Ksh
Construction cost of a 6 metre well shaft equipped with windlass 30,000
Sale of 20 jerrycans (20 litres) of water/day
@ Ksh 5 x 20 x 216 days 21,600
Own consumption of 100 litres of water/ day
@ Ksh 5 x 5 x 180 days 4,500
Less sick days by having clean water;
Salary Ksh 100/day x 20 days 2,000
Saved medical expenses by having clean water;
Ksh 50/day x 20 days 1,000
Income from a hand dug well in 180 days 29,100
The above example shows how to work out the pay back time for the one-time cost of
building a 6 metre deep hand-dug well equipped with a windlass. In this case the cost
is recovered in just 216 days. Thereafter the owner of the hand-dug well will be
generating a daily income from selling water to neighbours. In addition, the owner as
well as his neighbours will save working time on fetching water and suffer fewer sick
days caused by water-borne diseases.
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If the answers to the questions listed in section 2.2 suggest that the building of a dam
may be technically and economically feasible, then the next questions are:
• Will the project have any major impact on the environment?
• What will the impact of the project be on local people and how are they involved
in its planning and management?
• Does the project address issues which affect the roles and work of men and
women in the community (gender issues)?
• Are there any laws, cultural or ownership issues associated with the project which
need to be addressed?
Positive impacts of earth dams and ponds Negative impacts of earth dams and ponds
1. Irrigating fields and tree nurseries for 1. Loss of some land taken up by the dam
generating income and re-planting forests reservoir and its spillway(s).
2. Watering livestock near villages saves time 2. Risk of increased cases of malaria (this can be
and reduces erosion caused by cattle. reduced by fish such as Tilapia Nilotica).
3. Providing domestic water from a hand-dug 3. Risk of increased cases of bilharzia, cholera,
well generates income and can lead to health dysentery and typhoid (this can be reduced if
improvements. the reservoir is fenced and the water is drawn
from hand-dug wells or draw-off pipes
4. Raising ducks, geese and fish farming for situated downstream of dam walls, if drinking
food and income. water is boiled and if people do not bathe in,
and wash clothes in the reservoirs).
5. Making bricks and construction works for
income generation. 4. Increased soil erosion along roads due to
people and animals coming for water at the
6. Reducing water-borne diseases by providing dam.
improved water supply for domestic use.
5. Risk of dam wall collapse if poorly designed
7. Saving peoples' time by reduced walking or constructed incorrectly, thereby releasing a
distances to fetch water. violent flash-flood damaging everything in its
path.
8. Reduced impact of floods by storing initial
floodwaters thus lessening erosion. 6. Siltation of dam reservoirs will shorten the
lifetime of dams unless proper soil
9. Raising the water table downstream of ponds conservation is implemented in the catchment
and dams which benefit well levels for hand- areas.
dug wells and trees.
7. Risk of people and animals drowning if they
10. Increasing the value of land near an earth try to bathe in or swim across a dam reservoir.
dam, because of all the above benefits.
8. Impact on downstream users who may be
11. Reducing poverty levels through the income- deprived of water or subject to pollution
generating activities
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