The Rotary clean water project being led by the Dawlish Water Club for the last eight years has now contributed to a sixth dam - at Nzeluni in central/eastern Kenya.

The Sand Dams project, which provides concrete dams across sedimentary rivers to harness clean water mainly in Africa, is supported by more than 30 other Rotary clubs in Devon and Cornwall.

The scheme has been an outstanding success providing clean water for life in a very cost-effective way as well as supporting better health and living prospects, helping villages to work their way out of poverty.

In the latest project three villages are involved - 1272 people locally and 1522 in the sublocation. A third earn less than £21 per month and a further 33 per cent less than £35 per month - so below the current UN defined poverty line.

They already have an earth dam but it does not take them out of poverty and is unsatisfactory for a health point of view. The sand dam, together with agricultural training and activity, achieves the economic and health target. The creation of an oasis by the sand dam also ensures the reversal of desertification.

A recent study by Warwick University demonstrates that these sand dams reduce the numbers below the poverty line by 74 per cent, reduction of households unable to feed themselves by 89 per cent and reduction in households falling sick by 64 per cent.

Last month a UN panel on climate change warned that extreme weather events, with prolonged droughts, would become more frequent and intense - making sand dams even more valuable.

Dawlish Water Rotary is proud of co-ordinating and leading this fight for a better world.

Recently, the club has paid tributes to the outstanding contributions made by John Seaborne, a past president of the club, and Terry Lowther, who did so much for Rotary and for the town.

’They will be much missed by so many people,’ said Dawlish Water President Anne Harrison.

Above: A recently completed sand dam ready for the rains, and right, the amazing resultsâ?¦ prolific crops.