No mistake was made about Kiira Dam
Feb 23, 2006
SIR – Many people with varying backgrounds have expressed their opinion through your paper regarding Kiira Dam.
SIR – Many people with varying backgrounds have expressed their opinion through your paper regarding Kiira Dam. A large section of the population has been made to believe this dam was a mistake and is therefore the cause of the power shortage we are experiencing. I am extremely surprised that no Government official has come out to explain with clarity why Kiira Dam was located where it is. Consider the following:
Kiira Dam was not constructed to supplement Nalubaale Dam, but was a possible replacement. Nalubaale Dam is a design fault and is slipping. Worldwide no dam is designed as an S-Curve, apart from Nalubaale and due to its convex nature at the intake, the pressure is causing its slow but gradual slip. In its current state Nalubaale only spells future disaster.
Normally dams are designed with concave profiles at the intake to withstand the in-coming water pressure.
Even if run at full capacity, Nalubaale is inefficient due to the age of its turbines. It was prudent to construct another dam so the country would not be plunged in sudden darkness due to uncertainty of the old dam.
The drop in waterhead at both dams is not entirely due to the creation of a second dam; in fact the creation of Kiira Dam has a very small or negligible effect on Lake Victoria’s water level and more to do with mass evaporation from the lake surface due to prolonged drought. Anyone in doubt needs to carry out a simple experiment by boiling water in a saucepan without a lid, first at midday in an open area and then at night. Time both and see how long it takes to empty them. The time difference will astound you, and this is simple Science.
The other issue is that Lake Victoria is fed by streams from Kenya, Tanzania (Kagera basin), Rwanda and Uganda, but there is drought and these streams cannot supply the normal volumes. This means the water level goes down. If Kiira Dam had caused the drop in water level then there would be evident flooding at the outflow.
Lastly, if you consider the location of both dams, Nalubaale Dam would have received more water, going by the principles of fluidity. This is not the case, which means the shortcoming emanates from the lake body in general. This obsession of parallel vis-à -vis series placement is someone’s illusion. Anyone conversant with the topography of the area will notice that it would take far more financing to build a water head after Nalubaale, high enough to power the turbines of such capacity and probably it would not have made it with the record low-water levels.
Steven Kasozi
Kampala
Kiira Dam was not constructed to supplement Nalubaale Dam, but was a possible replacement. Nalubaale Dam is a design fault and is slipping. Worldwide no dam is designed as an S-Curve, apart from Nalubaale and due to its convex nature at the intake, the pressure is causing its slow but gradual slip. In its current state Nalubaale only spells future disaster.
Normally dams are designed with concave profiles at the intake to withstand the in-coming water pressure.
Even if run at full capacity, Nalubaale is inefficient due to the age of its turbines. It was prudent to construct another dam so the country would not be plunged in sudden darkness due to uncertainty of the old dam.
The drop in waterhead at both dams is not entirely due to the creation of a second dam; in fact the creation of Kiira Dam has a very small or negligible effect on Lake Victoria’s water level and more to do with mass evaporation from the lake surface due to prolonged drought. Anyone in doubt needs to carry out a simple experiment by boiling water in a saucepan without a lid, first at midday in an open area and then at night. Time both and see how long it takes to empty them. The time difference will astound you, and this is simple Science.
The other issue is that Lake Victoria is fed by streams from Kenya, Tanzania (Kagera basin), Rwanda and Uganda, but there is drought and these streams cannot supply the normal volumes. This means the water level goes down. If Kiira Dam had caused the drop in water level then there would be evident flooding at the outflow.
Lastly, if you consider the location of both dams, Nalubaale Dam would have received more water, going by the principles of fluidity. This is not the case, which means the shortcoming emanates from the lake body in general. This obsession of parallel vis-à -vis series placement is someone’s illusion. Anyone conversant with the topography of the area will notice that it would take far more financing to build a water head after Nalubaale, high enough to power the turbines of such capacity and probably it would not have made it with the record low-water levels.
Steven Kasozi
Kampala