| Work Detail |
Farmers of Mahe, Seychelles’ main island, will benefit with increased water supply from new water reservoir construction. Once the agriculture department finalizes a water reservoir project at Bon Espoir, Montagne Posee, farmers are expected to improve their agri-business. A gabion will be erected to collect and store 1,000 cubic metres of water.
A gabion is usually a cage filled with rocks, used to construct walls to contain soil and water. When used to seizure water, gabions also serve as filtering dams. Additionally, gabions not only to increase water storage capacity, but also to harness the resource. Instead of letting the water flow down to the sea, the new reservoir will provide alternative water catchment facility. The gabion is becoming a popular system for harvesting water. It is a long-term project that is strong and durable.
Benefits of gabions in new water reservoir construction
Before work on the project begins, farmers who are already getting their water in the area will have to relocate. Additionally, the new relocating area has been identified by the agriculture department. This will avert the water supply from having high content of soil. Importantly, failure to relocate the local farmers and remain connected to the wetland during construction, water supply will be contaminated.
The construction of the gabion reservoir will take 6 months to complete. A similar project is to be undertaken on Praslin to handle water supply hitches on the second largest island of Seychelles. Using gabion for water harvesting in national projects piloted in 2018 at the Bougainville. Following the project in wetland in the district of Takamaka in the south of Mahe, two more such reservoirs were built at Val D’en Dor and Baie Lazare. Such reservoirs increase resilience to climate change and benefits for water supply for human consumption, food security and livelihood. Such projects provide an alternative to desalination for potable water invention and the sustainability of the environment. |
