Dinner with Partners and Speaker Bruce Irvine on Sand Dams
Tue, Feb 7th 2017 at 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Bruce Irvine - Sand Dams
- Initially a sand dam is a small, low-tech construction that is built by a local community in semi-arid areas of the world
Bruce
Irvine - Sand
Dams
Initially a sand dam is a small, low-tech construction that is built by
a local community in semi-arid areas of the world where there is seasonal
rainfall. The communities take many hours out of their day to collect an
inadequate and unreliable supply of water that is usually unsafe and
unclean. Their livelihood is constantly threatened by drought.
The construction of a sand dam creates a reliable supply of safe fresh water
normally, within half-an-hour of the village. Where dam construction
is suitable this is the cheapest way of providing fresh water.
However, the way these projects are formulated opens up the opportunity for
these communities to totally transform their social and economic potential and
after a few years they are able to embark on a path of self-sustained
development. Indeed, after living in an environment characterised by
deforestation, desertification, soil erosion and drought, they find that these
processes are all being reversed and they are experiencing a significant
enhancement of their environment. From being on the edge of disaster
desperately struggling to survive, these communities quickly become secure in
terms of water and food supply and look to their future with confidence and
optimism. From an international perspective, I think that these projects
are one of the most exciting a rotary club can become involved in.
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