Water from Small Dams

AcknowledgmentsMuch gratitude is due to Birgit Madsen of the Royal Danish Embassy in Nairobi forhaving taken a leading role in documenting the experiences of various techniques ofcreating low-cost water supply structures in the semi-desert, arid and semi-aridregions of the world.Many thanks are also due to Prof. Elijah Biamah, John Gould, Steen Larsen and AminVerje, who assisted with the text and editing, to Edwin Ondako who created thewebsite and loaded this handbook and others onto it, and to Oliver D’Cunha, whomanaged the printing at Modern Lithographic.Thanks are also due to the many engineers, technicians, artisans and self-help groupswho participated in several training courses and other assignments on small earthdams implemented by ASAL Consultants Ltd. for Danida, SIDA, UNDP, EU andother organisations in a dozen countries over the last three decades.This handbook, Water from Small Dams, is one of a series of 8 publications onWater in Arid Land, financed by the Danish International Development Assistance(Danida).To promote the simple technologies described in the handbooks, they can be read, ordownloaded free of charge, from our website www.waterforaridland.com .Erik Nissen-PetersenManaging DirectorASAL Consultants Ltd.P.O. Box 739, 00606, Nairobi, KenyaTel/fax 254 (0)20 2710296Mobile 0733 619066 / 0722 599144asal@wananchi.com asalconsultants@yahoo.comDisclaimerThe designs and construction procedures described in this handbook are based on theauthor’s experiences and observations over 30 years. The earth dams describedherein, when properly constructed and maintained, have performed exceptionallywell. However, local climatic, geological, seismic and soil conditions vary widely, asdoes the quality of materials and workmanship, and while the author and Danida arekeen to encourage the replication of the ponds and dams described in this handbook,they cannot accept liability for the failure of a water harvesting system based on thedesigns and construction procedures described here.vii