Preventing floods – structural measures

How to deal with floods is always a contentious issue; options range from trying to stop them altogether (taming of rivers through dams and dykes) to moving to areas that are not affected by the floods and thereby abandoning the area to the flood water.

In Kenya, structural flood control is the responsibility of the Ministry of Water (since 1983), which is therefore responsible for the construction of dykes. Digging of canals, desilting of rivers and construction of dykes are the main activities. Dyke construction started in the colonial era but is not yet finished. There are constant complaints about misuse of money, or limited funds.

“To be sure, last year, the Government embarked on a project to avert the anguish. It forked out Sh47 million for digging canals and clearing tonnes of silt from streams and rivers. But the Government shortly thereafter, ran out of steam. Silt has once again fill up most canals. Despite some Sh70 million being allocated to the project this year, there is little to show for it on the ground, except for a little dyke on the banks of River Nyando, on the Ahero-Kericho highway.”

(Ochieng’/Odhiambo 2005: n.p.)

While many want dams upstream, the dykes are controversial. On a community level, the people’s scepticism towards the dyke and lack of proper regulation, which would allow the communities to manage the dykes themselves are further impeding dyke construction and maintenance. Mistrust is prevalent and people still remember that the construction of the dyke started in a bad manner (SO_M_35M):

“When they came to build they gave us notice, but we didn’t take it seriously, there had been so many notices before and nothing had happened afterwards. So we had been given the no-tice, that we have to move out of the area, [... ] and one day they were there and boom [...].

Another oppression is, that our parcel numbers are now gone. Our land has been taken on both sides of the river. We run at a loss because we had land on both sides. It is double tragedy. In fact we are wondering why. We complained, but nothing happened.” (MO_M_50F)

Those living along the dyke (BO_M_75M) are complaining, as they lost some of their land due to dyke construction. The dyke is not constructed directly at the riverbanks but some metres away, and people are officially not allowed to farm the land between the river and the dyke. However, the appreciation of this perceived confiscation of land is low¹⁰⁹.

“They are now saying it is no-man’s-land. But there is no no-man’s-land.” MO_M_50F

Many had simply started to plant on both sides of the dyke again. Another problem is that the dykes block access to water for the livestock, which has even led to people deliberately destroying the dykes. While old dyke constructions did not consider the livestock issue, the new dykes have ramps for the livestock to cross. Whether this will protect the dykes rests yet to be seen (Figure 18).

Figure 18 Top: Dyke damaged by trespassing; bottom: trespassing cows (Picture: own, 2006)

109 As ministries not only lack the manpower to take care of the implementation, but also because there is considerable sympathy for those that plant close to the river, the law is however hardly ever implemented.

Another factor contributing to the refusal of the dykes is that they are not always construct-ed correctly. Badly constructconstruct-ed or maintainconstruct-ed dykes can break during flooding (Figure 19), thereby causing even greater damage. This uncertainty was expressed by a community member who said that the community cannot say whether they are happy about the dykes

“as they have not even seen that they would withstand a serious flood event” (SO_M_35M).

A further common concern was that starting to open the river and constructing dykes up-stream and not extending to the end, causes an aggravation of the severity of floods down-stream, leading to a disaster there. Concerning the slow progress and inappropriate starting point of dyke construction, local farmers told me that they had raised their concerns with the MP but without success.

“I don’t understand the concept of the piecework of dykes, so that new parts of the dyke are constructed while the old dyke is not repaired so that the risk of a sudden breakthrough of the dyke is huge. We are at a very great risk.” BO_M_75M

This is the statement given in 2006. When revisiting the area in 2010, dyke construction had not yet been completed, and people said they did not know, why (DA_M_70M) or said it had stopped around one and a half years ago because of financial problems.

Figure 19 Broken and repaired dykes along the River Nyando (Picture: own, 2006)

While the complaints and worries around dyke construction are comprehensible; even when well-planned and established, dykes, even though protecting the society, bring nega-tive side effects. In 2006 when visiting the people along the Nyando, they had an opinion on the dyke, especially with regard to its consequences on agriculture. In 2010 those asked (6 people living along the dyke, close to Magina) did in general see the positive impact of the dyke even though some of them had to move because of the dyke construction (see as well Ongor 2007). As positive effects of the dykes the following points were mentioned: (a) the protection of farms against the negative effects of floods, (b) the possibility of transport-ing goods on top of the dykes, as well as allowtransport-ing children to go to school safely, and (c) the reduction of the probability of having to resettle temporarily. The newspapers and the DC painted a positive picture of the dyke construction:

“For the first time in many years, residents of Nyando are experiencing a new way of life - a life free from the hustle of having to move away from home to escape floods every year. In the past, moving to higher ground had become a ritual. Many can now enjoy farming without fear-ing that their crops will be washed away.” Odunga/Ochieng' (2006:n.p.)

Even though it was still stated that there was the possibility that water would come with more force in case the dykes break, in 2010 the people I talked to thought it was safer. The community chairman acknowledged some advantages; however he stated that there were disadvantages as well, an impression that was confirmed by DA_M_70M.

On the negative side it was mentioned that the reduced moisture content in the soils would reduce the overall yield¹¹⁰. In 2010, some had even stopped planting because of the dry-ness of the soil, while others started planting other crops, such as sweet potatoes and fin-ger millet. Fruit trees and papaya planting was now possible and practiced as well.

However, irrigation was seen as being necessary, in order to cope with the water scarcity.

The need to pump water to the fields was seen as the most pressing need for many agricul-tural activities. Alternatively, the possibility to build water gates into the dykes was men-tioned.

But would there be alternatives to dyke construction? The construction of a dam upstream, so that water could be released in the dry periods for irrigation is a frequently mentioned option by the communities. At the moment however, only small-scale storage ponds are promoted on a community level.

“We got advice from certain people to dig water pools during droughts so as to conserve water.

And if you visit any of the members you’ll find at least one water pool that has an inlet and an

110 On the other hand, in some areas the dykes prevent flash floods from the surroundings to find their way into the river. Stagnant water in the wrong places is seen as leading to outbreaks of waterborne diseases.

outlet such that when it rains water collects into the pool and once it is filled water flows into the field. We have even organised field days for MoA, VI, chiefs of lower Nyakach.” GD_NYA A small-scale structural measure to allow for fast drainage of flood water might be the dig-ging of small channels by hand within the LNB. Chapter 7.3 will deal in depth with those channels. Besides measures that deal with the floodwater, soil conservation upstream could lower the run-off and the siltation of the riverbeds and drainage channels and thereby decrease the problem of flooding. Efforts in this respect are on-going but have not been studied here in detail as they are outside of the study area.