MAKERERE UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING DESIGN ART AND TECHNOLOGY INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING ASSIGGNMENT

NAME MWANJE EDMOND NANTUME RACHEAL NAJJINGO BARBRA NUWENYESIGA DEAN WALUSIMBI ROBERT MWORYEM BILL SEVUME ALLAN AINOMUGISHA GERALD

REG NO 12/U/725 12/U/ 12/U/ 12/U/976 12/U/1223 12/U/739 12/U/ 12/U/

SIGNATURE

NALUBAALE DAM Often known by its old name, Owen falls dam, Nalubaale dam is located in Njeru district, 8 km away from Jinja town along the Kampala Mbale highway. Its a hydroelectric power station across the west Nile near to its source at Lake Victoria . Nalubaale is the luganda name.

View from the top of nalubaale dam the dam

It was built by the British insulated calenders construction company through the British government after the katikiro of Buganda Micheal Kawalya Kagwa during his visit to the united kingdom requested the queens government to give Uganda water and electricity. In 1947, sir Charles Redvers WestLake( an English engineer0reported to the colonial government of Uganda recommending the construction of a hydro electric dam at Owen falls near Jinja city which in turn led to the establishment of Uganda electricity board (UEB) with WestLake its first chairman The consultant engineer in the project was sir Alexander Gibb and partners. The dam was completed in 1954 .it supplies electricity to Uganda and part of Kenya and Tanzania.

As before the water level on Lake Victoria was moderated by a natural rock dam on the left side of the Lake .when the dam was built a treaty between Uganda and Egypt was signed which ensured that natural flow of water would not be altered by the dam Originally the dam was designed for 10 turbines rated at 15MW each. The station was refurbished in the 1990s to repair the accumulated wear from a decade of civil disorder during the refurbishment the output power of the generators increased In 1993 , work started on the Owen falls extension project , a second powerhouse located about 1km from the 1954 powerhouse was to be constructed . a new power canal was cut to bring water from Lake Victoria to the new powerhouse . The construction was completed in 1999and as named Kiira power station in the opening ceremony in 2001. Design and project management was by acres international now hatch ltd, Canada Since January 2006, hydro electric generation at Nalubaale and Kiira have been low due to low levels of water in Lake Victoria. In 2006, there was release of secret documents that indicated that the British had considered using this dam to reduce the water level in the Nile in an effort to remove Egyptian president Nasser Currently the dam supplies 180MW to the national grid and supplies millions of Ugandans with electricity including parts of Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda

Figure 2

Figure 2 shows the rapid water speeds that run the turbines in nalubaale dam OBJECTIVES OF NALUBAALE DAM CONSTRUCTION The main objective of the construction of the nalubaale power generation dam was to generate electricity with in the country which had no electricity power generator at that time. This was also being seen as a benefit to the british themselves because they were going to be the main recipients and users of the electricity. Having come to colonize Uganda the British needed to show themselves as our friends and supporters of development in order to be allowed to penetrate deeper into the country to conquer more of the places they were interested in within Uganda so by starting up apower generation project, the british would be seen as our friends. As a matter of fact the existence of the Nile river created need and vacuum for its effective utilization and there was no other way it could put to maximum utilization other than the construction of a power generating project. Another objective for the nalubaale dam construction was that there was need for the supply of power to the small scale industries which were being put up in the country by

that time. These were the sugar processing plants, tea processing plants and many others. It was also due to progression of technology that Ugandans were to change from use of the early man ways of lighting and so called primitive ways to the advanced means of self creation of our basic needs. As a way of modernization and improvement of the standard of living of Ugandans there was a need for the construction of a power generating project in Uganda and the vacuum created pushed the Britain government to undertake the project.

BENEFITS OF ITS CONSTRUCTION Power generation; hydro electric power is the major source of electricity in the world today. Nalubaale supplies 180MWof power to the national grid which has been put for use in industries, Education centers and domestic use. Boosted National revenue: a good percentage of Ugandas revenue comes as tax imposed on UMEME company which is the company in charge of the Nalubaale dam Increased employment opportunities: the construction of the Nalubaale dam has been of great benefit to Ugandans as many have become employed for example engineers, electricians, supervisors, consultants etc Navigation: It has created deep reservoirs and varies the flow of water downstream. This in turn affects upstream and downstream navigation by altering the rivers depth. Deeper water increase freedom of movement of water vessels. Stabilized water flow: The flow at the Nile has been stabilized as a result of the construction of the dam and this has helped to prevent possible flooding during rainy season where the water level could be high. Water supply: Apart from generating Hydro Electricity, the dam has supplied water to most parts of JInja district, mostly for industrial use. Recreation and Aquatic beauty: The local community has come to enjoy the reservoir for recreational and aesthetic reason. The reservoir is placid and surrounded by greenery and conveys to the visitors a nature sense of rest and relaxation.

Infrastructure: The construction of the Nalubaale dam has boosted the infrastructure of the neighboring area and this has encouraged trade around the area for example so many hotels have been put up around the dam as a result.

Challenges faced during the construction of the dam Inadequate skilled labour: During construction of the dam, labour was not enough for example they were not enough engineers and this delayed the completion of the project Opposition by the local community: The construction company which was involved, British insulated calendar Construction Company faced a lot of opposition from the local community because so many people were against the project and attempted to resist. The inhabitants of the area had also refused to vacate the area. Poor transport and communication: The contractors also faced a big challenge in transporting construction materials from the port to where the dam was to be constructed because of the poor roads at that time. Difficult was also faced in communicating to the British government. Inadequate Funds from the British government: At most times, funds were inadequate because the construction was very costly and there was delayed release of funds by the British government. Resettlement of the displaced: A big challenge was also encountered when dealing with the displaced people because they were not willing to leave for other places and when they did , they demanded for large compensations . Oppositions from other governments like Egypt and Sudan: Since the Nile flows through Egypt and Sudan, the Egyptians felt that the construction of the dam will reduce the water flowing to their country. They had to first sign a treaty with the Uganda Government and the British Government. Political unrest in the country: The dam was constructed at the time when the country was politically unstable because at that time Ugandans were demanding for their independence and this led to conflict ideas. HOW I CAN IMPROVE THE DAM PROJECT

The Nalubaale dam is so far the most successful project in Uganda as far as the local people are concerned and the government at large since gains money through taxation of the tourists who pay a visit to the dam, therefore the dam also works as a tourism attraction centre. In spite the good of the above project, its not as ideal as it seems because of a few challenges which can be improved and as a civil engineering student, I can improve this project through the steps below. Through revising the management of the dam. The Nalubaale dam is supposed to feed the whole country with electricity, but what happened is the greedy management decided to create a diversion in the flow of water thus reducing water pressure required to run the turbines, hence a drop in the amount of power supplied. Therefore with a change in management such circumstances shall be avoided and the dam project shall be improved to produce more mega watts of power. Turbines need to be changed, and as a student who knows that machines undergo wear and tear during functioning which reduces their efficiency hence reducing power supply, I would advise the management to replace the existing turbines with new ones such that the efficiency of the dam increases hence increasing power supply in Uganda. I would encourage whoever is responsible for the dam to increase the depth of the turbines. Since the turbines are driven by pressure of the water, which pressure depends on depth while this pressure is responsible for the quantity of power produced by the dam. Therefore with increase in the depth of the turbines, there shall be a remarkable increase in quantity of power produced by the dam. The strength of the pillars should be increased. These pillars shall be able to handle heavy weights of heavily loaded trucks and this will prevent collapsing of the bridge which contains the turbines beneath it. With the increase in strength of pillars, road accidents on the Nalubaale dam bridge shall be reduced and this helps reduce maintenance costs, this helps to save time, money and resources. As a student, I would advise the management to increase the size of the road at the Nalubaale dam bridge. This is mainly to allow ease of transport mainly between wide cars and heavy cars. A wide road reduces traffic jam along the bridge, and this reduces the weight supported by the bridge per second. This helps to curb chances of the bridge

collapsing yet the turbines are just beneath the bridge, thus increasing efficiency of the dam. The Nalubaale dam has served for more than the specified period, and this is showed by the existence of cracks on the walls of the dam as well as the potholes on the road to the bridge. So in order to strengthen the bridge for the dam to stay really safe and serving the country for more years, the cracks and potholes need to be filled up such that those sutures which are points of weakness are removed. This increases the span of the dam and the time for its serving the country.