It is a sigh of relief for residents living along the Turkwel Dam along the West Pokot and Turkana Counties border after the dam failed to spill over following the rising waters witnessed a few months ago.
The dam was expected to spill over in mid December and was to affect more than 3000 residents in the area.
According to Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA) that manages the property, the water levels have dropped by 15 centimeters hence there is no possibility of the dam spilling over soon.
KVDA Managing Director Sammy Naporos said that it requires six months of continuous rainfall for the dam to spill over.
He noted that low rainfall is being experienced in Mt. Elgon and Uganda region following the dry spell witnessed in the area.
The MD urged the worried communities in the lowlands to be at peace citing that the dam is stable, sound and well designed hence no cause for an alarm.
The spillover could displace communities on the dam’s upstream, majority of whom have encroached the dam boundaries.
Naporos said in case of an emergency, the dam is designed to safely evacuate water through the spillways and low level outlet as necessary. ‘It cannot burst and people should remain calm because we have taken charge,” he said, “For the first time since 1990 the level of the water rose to the highest level ever.”
KVDA engineer in charge of water resources Daniel Kiptan said the dam is stable and there is nothing to worry about, adding that they are monitoring the performance of the structure.