Turkwel River

The controversial Turkwel Dam was built by the Kenyan government from 1986 to 1991 with the help of France. The plan was to harness the waters of the Turkwel. The project was initially supposed to cost KSh. 4 billion, but ended up costing more than KSh. 20 billion. The dam partially filled the Turkwel Gorge and created the Turkwel Gorge Reservoir.

Anthropology

In 1999, fossils reported from south of the river were assigned to Australopithecus sp. based on similarities with A. afarensis, although they were not the same. They were discovered by a multinational team in 1990 and brought to the National Museums of Kenya. These fossils include a metacarpal, capitate, hamate, lunate, pedal phalanx, mandibular fragment, and dental remains. They lacked the suspension and climbing capabilities in the hand and wrist of contemporaries, but had heavily muscled forearms that were adept at certain apelike types of precision gripping based on the suggested rotary capacity. These were assigned KNM-WT 22944 G through J, and they are 3.5 mya old from the Nachukui Formation.