Some five months after the Mwache multi-purpose dam project was launched in Kenya, the government is launching an initiative to restore the river basin. The aim is to plant 100,000 trees to make the river safer.
As the Mwache multi-purpose dam gradually rises in the village of Fulugani in Kenya, the government wants to restore the river basin, particularly in the buffer zone of the future reservoir, which will cover an area of 250,000 hectares, with an 87.5 m high concrete gravity dam. This justifies the launch of the project to plant 100,000 trees in the Mwache river catchment area on 22 September 2023.
The Kenyan Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation will manage this project, which is one of the components of the Mwache water supply project. The project also aims to provide equitable and sustainable access to water, and to build resilience to climate change in the communities living around Mwache and its environs.
For the record, the lake in the dam that will be formed is expected to contain 118 million m3 of water. The water stored by the structure will be pumped to irrigate 2,600 hectares of land in Kwale County. The water from the Mwache dam will also be treated to supply the local population through a plant with a capacity of 186,000 m3 per day.
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At the launch of the 100,000-tree planting campaign, Kenya’s Minister of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation, Ephantus Kimotho, stressed that this was “a collective effort that requires a whole-of-government and social approach”.
Each resident of Mwache was asked to plant a minimum of 30 trees to ensure the success of the reforestation campaign. As well as restoring the Mwache river catchment, the initiative will improve people’s livelihoods and create jobs. “In the long term, 450,000 trees will be planted in this catchment area thanks to a coastal water safety project”, says the Kenyan Ministry of Water.
Inès Magoum
