@ Museveni, Iwill try to answer your questions from what I know and as best as I possibly could....
Quote:1. Is flooding a major issue in Murang'a ? Obviously not. Flooding in the lower parts of Tana is majorly contributed by other factors that will still be in play every rain season. e.g there being no consistent feeder rivers to R. Tana, esp in the garissa region flush floods will always happen and NOT due to 'EXCESS' water from the Aberdares catchment area.
I agree there is no such a thing as flooding in Murang'a because the valleys through which the rivers flow are deep enouph to accommodate all the flood water. This flood water at the upper regions is the one that causes the flooding in the lower region. I will tell you something, that in as far as river Tana is concerned once it leaves Mwingi, it enters a region with a consistently flat topography all the way to Tana delta. Due to the slow speed of water in this region, the river is very shallow. I did some reconnaissance sometime back along Garissa to nannighi (Bura), Hola, Garsen and Ngao and you know what, some areas are just about 1 metre deep. Along river Tana there is no other factor that causes flooding except heavy rainfall at the catchment and thus excess water (way above the daily recorded average flow rate).
Quote:2. It would have been made more sense to focus on alternative sources of water for Nairobi residents, with great input from Nairobi county leadership as well. As of now it has been structired as Muranga county project with leaders (Wa Iria) ONLY from that region being most vocal for the project (what gives? - one ambulance and some houses benefit Muranga residents) while the silence from Nairobi county leadership is deafening. Politicians being involved only muddles (with or without 'flood' waters) the situation further as some will take the opportunity to upsatege others or stayb relevant.
At the time (30 years ago) when the feasibility study was done for this project and even Now Nairobi has no other viable alternative of water source. Not boreholes, no place to construct a dam (While in upper Kiambu and Murang'a there is plenty of space). If Nairobi County were to look for a place to construct a dam, may be Spring Valley and some parts of lower Kabete. If the dam was to plug in the water supply deficit which now stands at 300 million litres per day, then for an average of 50m deep dam with a half an year unreplenished capacity, it would have to hold 50 billion litres covering an area of about 1000acres!!
The issue of county resource ownership is what is complicating the water and energy issues and not just in Nairobi. This is an issue that cropped up after inaugulation of the the bloody new constitution.
So my take is that the project is viable. The only issue that needed to be ironed out is how much Nairobi is going to pay Murang'a county for this resource and where the bulk water meter will be installed. The rest about landslides and desertification are lies meant for political expediencies, nothing else.
Quote:3. Effects of tapping the water at the Source are quite huge and have been so grossly understated. Take an example of the Colorado river - just to steer clear of the local politics. Tapping of the river waters now leads to devastated farmers across the border in Mexico where a pitiful fraction of the water flowing ends up. The impact to those relying on these waters and the environs downstream has been downplayed in the discussions to the point where it looks intentional or as one of the targets.
Unfortunately with human behaviour, once an easy solution is stumbled upon, more and more of such actions will be encouraged. So even if a fraction of the waters end up in Ndakaini, more and more water will diverted to fill the presumed shortfalls with little regard to the effects later on.
In our case, the water is not being tapped at the source which is the Aberdares. The project here is concerned about tapping of the
excess water above the average daily flow.
If the water is at or below the average flow rate, the weir gates will remain closed and no water shall enter the turnnels. I like this very automation because it ensures that the same amount of water is still available in the river along its course just as if the project never exixted.
As for uncontrolled extraction, this would be upon the national government with the help of the county government and the community to monitor and ensure that there is no unlicensed extractions and diversions.
Quote:4. The hush-hush nature of implementing the project raises more eyebrows and suspicions. Corruption thrives in such hideous projects where there is little public participation and transparency. Why the sudden knee-jerk reactions when questions raised? Also, why the rush to start the project even before proper impact reports and licences were granted ?
Let me enlighten you yet again...
Feasibility study done in 1982/1983 (34 years ago, I am quite sure most of the members in wazua had not been born)...A fact!
Construction started in 1988 (28 years ago, how old were you then?). The project composed of 14 components:
the main one being of the Ndakaini Dam. This was done and completed in 1996....A fact!
the construction of pipelines to Nge'thu water treatment plant and from treatment works to the Gigiri reservoir tank, and other three reservoirs in Kiambu, Kasarani and Wilson
Airport which was done and completed...A fact!
construction of the water intakes..the main one at ndakaini dam was done and completed....A fact!
building of access roads...the ones that were associated with the dam, the rising mains to the treatments works and other pipelines to the storage tanks were done and completed....A fact
collector tunnels are the last components that should be marking the completion of the water supply project in totality as conceived and designed 34 years ago....A fact!
All in all there is nothing new in this project and all the possible technical and social negativities that were likely to arise had been taken care of.
There is nothing wrong with the project. It is the political jostling within and without Murang'a county that is messing everything up. Those are Kenyan politics. If there was anything wrong with the project, it would never have taken off and even the world bank would never have funded it. Upto now about 80% of the project has been completed. Why have we waited until this long (80% completion level) to start punching holes at it? Answer...politicising everything even a cattle deep.
...besides, the presence of a safe alone does not signify that there is money inside...