Nyangatom herders lead their cattle to the Omo River to drink. With Gibe III Dam holding back the river’s water, grasses for livestock grazing and soil moisture for crop production have diminished downstream for the indigenous tribal communities, spreading hunger in the lower Omo Valley. Photo: Alison M. Jones, courtesy of International Rivers.
(CTA) – An Italian engineering company has been reported to the OECD because the dam it is building is set to destroy the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people in Kenya and Ethiopia. Survival International (SI)‚ a global movement for the rights of tribal peoples‚ reported engineering giant Salini to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development over the construction of the dam‚ which has cut off the Omo River’s regular flooding‚ which 100‚000 people rely on to water their crops and livestock. According to a statement released by SI‚ a further 100‚000 people rely on the flooding more indirectly. SI said the dam could mean that Lake Turkana – the world’s largest desert lake – would be drained‚ spelling disaster for the 300‚000 people. SI said Salini “did not seek the consent of local people before building the dam‚ but claimed that an ‘artificial flood release’ would compensate them for their losses. However‚ this promised flood never came.” According to SI‚ “The region is one of the most important sites in early human evolution‚ and an area of exceptional biodiversity‚ with two World Heritage Sites and five national parks. The head of Kenya’s conservation agency said last week that the dam is unleashing ‘one of the worst environmental disasters you can imagine’.”
This satellite image shows the filling of the reservoir behind the Gibe III Dam on the Omo River in Ethiopia. Photo: Landsat/courtesy of International Rivers
Close look at Gilgel Gibe 3 dam
The project is located approximately 300 km south west of the capital Addis Ababa.
The works consist of the design and construction of a Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) dam and an open-air power plant with 10 Francis turbines with a total installed power of 1,870 MW and an expected energy output of 6,500 GWh per year.
The project also involves three diversion tunnels and two twin pumping tunnels, two intake structures, two horizontal tunnels, four vertical wells and two distributors.
Children sit on the bank of the Omo River, which supplies water to the Gilgel Gibe III dam.
PHOTO: ALAMY COURTESY OF THE GUARDIAN