DAM STRUCTURES AND TYPES IN NIGERIA: SUSTAINABILITY AND EFFECTIVENESS

Abstract

This paper focused on the various dams in Nigeria, their effectiveness with respect to configuration and purpose, sizes, lifespan and sustainability. The study observed the causes of dam failures and also compared their lifespans to their configuration, location and objectives. The results obtained from this study shows that Nigeria has large, medium and small dams which are also single and multipurpose. The dam structures will live out their lifespan as estimated from the designs, work effectively and sustainably except for action of some factors such as change in the hydrology of the dam location, changes in the design criteria and natural disasters. The need to know the degree to which dam structures achieve its expected result or purpose, the lifespan of each dam before rehabilitation and the sustainability of the dams in Nigeria, bringing the attention of the government and private owners to the need of dam construction and maintenance is the basis of this paper.