Cyclopean concrete micro-dams (马里)

A water reservoir for growing off-season increases the farmed area, yields and production. A second growing season thus becomes possible.

A cyclopean concrete micro-dam is built using dressed stone pointed with concrete. Cyclopean concrete is stronger than rubble stone masonry. The width of the crest is 0.75 metres. The length generally ranges from 150 to 250 metres depending on the site. The height varies between two and four metres. Micro-dams are equipped with buttresses and a stilling basin. The dam can be built in the form of a dam bridge. Each dam is has a stoplog sluice for draining away sediment during the first rains of the season and to regulate water levels. The use of stoplog gates is recommended instead of sluice gates, as the latter are more technically sophisticated and require more maintenance. The dam creates a water reservoir upstream covering an area of between 4 and 15 hectares.
Farming is carried out upstream and downstream in the rainy season and off-season.

The dam increases the amount of available surface water during the rainy season and groundwater during the off-season. Its effect on the water table depends on the depth of the scheme’s foundations: the deeper the foundations, the greater the recharge of ground water.
During the rainy season, the areas are used for rice growing. The wells used for irrigating market gardens are fed from the water table, meaning vegetables can be grown off-season. The water is also used for watering livestock, fish farming and, sometimes, domestic purposes. The dam increases the farmland areas, production and yields. Higher farming revenues lead to improved living conditions.

Initially, an information and awareness-raising workshop on the IPRO-DB approach is organised at the commune level, involving the villages affected by the project. Following this, a general meeting is held to secure the support of the whole village for the development request. The village chief and commune mayor then sign off the request. The project team carries out a scoping study and socio-economic surveys. If the outcomes of the scoping studies and socio-economic surveys are positive, the project team draws up the terms of reference for working with the consultancies. This stage is followed by the selection of consultancies through tender processes to carry out the technical studies and produce the invitation to tender document, all of which will be overseen by the project team. The village then makes its financial contribution towards the project, the management committee is set up, and organisational and technical training is provided to beneficiaries. The final stages comprise the partial acceptance of the building works (for example, foundations, wall, buttresses, stilling basin, gabion reinforcements, etc.), the monitoring of scheme building works by the project team, payment for activities on a unit-price basis, and interim acceptance leading to final acceptance after one year. A management committee takes charge of opening and closing the stoplog gates, organises the maintenance of the scheme and institutes additional measures to protect the scheme (gabions, stone bunds, etc.). It collects and manages maintenance fees, ensures the committee’s rules of procedure are adhered to and organises meetings of local producers. With minimum levels of maintenance, a scheme will remain functional for at least 20 years. Sustainable farming and management depend directly on employing a participatory approach.
Roles of the actors involved: Beneficiaries provide labour and financial resources, and conduct monitoring and the small-scale maintenance of the scheme. The project team provides funding, training and beneficiary support, carries out studies and capitalises on project data. The commune signs off the village request and repairs major damage (an activity that has so far been undertaken by the project team). Consultancies and contractors conduct surveys, carry out building work and are responsible for oversight. Rural engineers: quarterly inspections are carried out by the Regional Directorate of Rural Engineering and the Regional Directorate of Agriculture.

Since 2010, four dams were built so far in the Kolokani Circle (Tiembougou, Bamabougou, Korokabougou, Tienko). Others are currently being planned. The practice is recommended for areas lacking the right kind of stone for dressing (dolerite).

地点: Kolokani Circle (Tiembougou, Bamabougou, Korokabougou, Tienko), Mali, 马里

分析的技术场所数量:

技术传播: 均匀地分布在一个区域 (approx. 0.1-1 平方千米)

在永久保护区？:

实施日期: 不到10年前（最近）

• 通过土地使用者的创新
• 作为传统系统的一部分（> 50 年）
• 在实验/研究期间
• 通过项目/外部干预