Marsabit welcomes dam, but wonders if water will ever fill it

A first-time visitor to Marsabit town might be surprised at the frequent sight of large numbers of teenagers — especially girls — crowding around a water tap with jerricans.

Many others can be seen milling around water bowsers, struggling to fill their containers with water.

And most of these children have abandoned school to help their parents fetch water for domestic use and for livestock.

So the residents were pleasantly surprised to see a fleet of earth movers and other machinery enter the northern Kenya town a few months ago on their way to Badasa area of Mt Marsabit to start building a Sh2.39 billion dam. They cannot wait to see the reservoir completed and filled with water.

Ending the water problem in the town, residents have argued, would not only put a stop to the high drop out rate in schools but would also attract investors.

Many investors, especially in the hotel industry, have shunned the town because of lack of water.

Marsabit has several tourist attractions, including a variety of wildlife at the Marsabit National Park.

Despite the potential for tourism, there is not a single luxury hotel where tourists or dignitaries can stay while visiting the area.

Marsabit Lodge, which is at the heart of Mt Marsabit, is run down because of poor business. The challenge in running the hotel has been security and scarcity of water.

And so visitors to the area have to use air transport because they have to go back the same day.

But with availability of clean water and a good sewerage system, investors are expected to flock to the area, thus improving the town.

However, some of the residents have expressed reservations about whether the Badasa/Songa Dam, expected to be complete by the end of next year, will ever be filled with water.

Permanent river

Although the area is mountainous and has a thick indigenous forest, Mt Marsabit has no permanent river. The rains in the past few years have not been adequate for the area surrounded by desert. 

During the drought last year, all the springs and other water sources dried up.

The National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) has raised the red flag over continued degradation of the forest and banned drilling of boreholes at the foot of the mountain.

But it has conducted an environmental impact assessment and given the dam project the go-ahead.

This has not served to reassure Marsabit residents and other stakeholders, who continue to ask: Will this large dam ever fill up with water?
The dam has a capacity of 3.3 million cubic metres. It has a 52-metre embankment and will depend on rain water to fill.

But National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation managing director Petronilla Ogut does not share these concerns.

She said the Badasa/Songa Dam will be located in an area where there is enough run-off volume to fill the reservoir. The site of the dam is a water catchment area.

“Given the maximum annual rainfall received in Marsabit, water will fill the dam,” she assured the residents, adding that the project is to be implemented over four years.

Mr Peter Mwangi, a senior research scientist with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) at the Marsabit National Park, said although the dam was a good idea for the area, it might take long to fill.
“There is more run-off there than at the catchment. And for the one year that I have been living here (in Marsabit) and given the statistics of the rainfall patterns for the past three years, the dam may take years to fill,” he said.

He said the government should instead construct four medium-seize dams around the mountain.

But an engineer with Runji and Partners Engineering Company, the consulting engineers, said: “The site is the most convenient because there is a valley with two narrow, deep banks. These are ideal for a reservoir.”

Ms Ogut supported his view, saying the dam will be in an area where water can flow by gravity from the reservoir to the treatment works because there is a good spill-over.

She explained that water from the dam would be pumped to the treatment works and then channelled to consumers through pipes. The dam is about seven kilometres from Marsabit town.

Badasa/Songa Dam is one of the projects the government is undertaking through the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation with the aim of increasing the country’s storage capacity and alleviating water shortage in arid and semi arid areas.

The project is part of the Vision 2030 initiative under which 22 medium and large dams are to be constructed. Apart from Badasa/Songa, the corporation is also constructing four other large dams.

They include Kiserian Dam in Kajiado, Umaa Dam in Kitui, and Chemususu Dam in Koibatek District. Maruba Dam in Machakos is being rehabilitated.

Once the five dams were completed, Ms Ogut said they would increase the country’s water storage capacity by more than 21 million cubic metres.

Tankering services

For several years, Marsabit town has relied on tankers to supply water.

The existing Marsabit urban water supply was built in 1970 and improved in 1995.

The system gets water from Bakuli springs, also in Mt Marsabit. 

Because the population has grown and the mountain’s ecosystem degraded, the supply has not been enough for the town.

Water shortage in Marsabit has been such a nightmare that people can go for days without seeing a drop during drought.
This has affected hygiene and health standards.

According to a proposal that the Northern Water Services Board presented to the government on the need for a dam in Marsabit, diseases such as scabies, eye infections, fleas, and jigger infestation are common in Marsabit area.

Typhoid, amoeba, and dysentery are also widespread.

The board is mandated to improve planning of water supply and sewerage services in Northern Kenya.