Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Water, Sanitation and Irrigation Alice Wahome has commissioned the Pemba Intake Dam and Water Treatment Works in Kinango sub county of Kwale.
Ms. Wahome said the completion of Pemba Dam is a game changer to the residents of Kinango who were facing perennial water shortage due to water rationing from the Coast Water Services Board.
The Pemba Dam, constructed in the 1980s, is located along the Pemba River and is a concrete gravity weir 4m high and 25-30m long.
She said the sides of the weir were eroded by El Nino rains making impoundment of water impossible hence the need for rehabilitation.
CS Wahome said the intake and treatment works also became dysfunctional and required replacement to restore the system to the design capacity.
Wahome said that the national government would construct over 100 dams across the country and oversee the completion of abandoned water projects in a bid to improve water supply to Kenyans.
She said the water projects will go a long way in increasing access to water and sanitation and improve the health and livelihood of Kenyans especially rural populations.
“The current project involves rehabilitation of the weir and construction of a new treatment plant,” she said adding that the dam benefits approximately 30,000 people or 6,000 households in Kwale and its environs.
The work involves the rehabilitation of dam/weir and spillway, installation of new raw water intake, installation of new raw water pumping station and rising main, construction of new conventional water treatment plant of 3,000m3 per day capacity.
Others are construction of new houses for operators, construction of operation/ lab and chemical stores and associated civil works. – KNA
