In urban areas, the question of where the clean fresh water we use in our homes originates from rarely crosses our minds even as we open that tap to quench thirst, take a bathe or do laundry.
Most of the water used in major towns in Kenya including Nairobi city comes from dams.
The recent establishment of Sh23 billion Itare dam (Bomet), Sh30 billion Arror (Elgeyo Marakwet) and Muranga’s Sh6.8 billion Northern Water Collector Tunnel are eliciting mixed reactions.
In Elgeyo Marakwet, where three multipurpose dams are set to be constructed at Sh80 billion at Arror, Kimwarer and Embobut, residents are up in arms, accusing the state of ignoring their plight for adequate compensation before the mega projects kick off.
The county already has a 6.2-million-cubic-metre Chebara dam that supplies water to Eldoret town and its environs, but residents living near the dam have often lamented about lack of piped water despite consistently partaking in conserving the dam and the rivers that supplies water to it.
A section of Chebara dam in Elgeyo Marakwet county. Locals living adjacent to the dam have demanded for tapped water after waiting for18 years. The dam supplies water to Eldoret town Photo/STEPHEN RUTTO
The scenic dam that was built in the mid 1990s draws its water from Moiben River as well as streams that originate from Kipkunur and Embobut forests, which form part of the larger Cherangany water tower.
The desperation for clean water is evident, with residents fetching water from streams that drain water to dam regardless of the health risks.
Angry locals momentarily disrupted a recent annual conservation run at Chebara dam, Elgeyo Marakwet to protest lack of piped water in their homes.
Amos Kimutai, a resident said during the Saturday event that Eldoret Water Services has been ignoring their plight to have tapped water, only focusing on supplying water to Eldoret residents.
“We have tried talking to ELDOWAS but no one listens to us. We help in conservation of the dam, yet people in other counties benefit from the water,” Kimutai said.
He said the conservation run has been done for three years, yet residents have not been told how the proceeds benefit them.
It took the intervention of governor Alex Tolgos for the charged locals to calm down.
Tolgos told the locals he was also a victim of lack of tapped, since his parents live less than a kilometre from the dam, and have no tapped water.
“We have tried talking to ELDOWAS but no one listens to us. We help in conservation of the dam, yet people in other counties benefit from the water,” Kimutai said.
Benjamin Kimutai, 51, a farmer who lives less than a kilometer from the dam, says the stream waters get muddy, exposing residents to water borne diseases during rainy seasons.
Together with their livestock, Kimutai says, residents rely on the streams, further putting their health at a risk, making them even more vulnerable to water borne diseases.
“We fetch water from the streams. Our livestock drink from the same streams as well,” Kimutai says.
He says the local community has been requesting ELDOWAS - the company that has been managing the dam and facilitating continuous supply of water to Eldoret from Chebara for piped water for the past 18 years but their pleas have fell on deaf ears.
“The dam has brought more misfortunes that fortunes. When it started supplying water to Eldoret, we suffered from diseases in return,” he says as he waters kales on his farm using water he fetched from a nearby stream.
Kimutai says there was a sudden change of climate when the dam was completed, as temperatures decreased, making the area colder.
He says the situation has been worse for residents who fetch water directly from the dam as some of them have drowned and died.
“At least six people have drowned while fetching water from the dam since its establishment. It has never been fenced off,” he observes.
“We have been shortchanged for a long time. We regret why this dam is located here yet people living in another county enjoy its benefits.” he adds.
Paul Chelimo, a resident and chairman of Moiben Water Resource Users Association (WRUA), a community based organization says residents living adjacent to the dam, including Chebara trading centre, Chogoo, Kapkoros, Chebiemit, Kilima and Kapsiliot areas are not benefitted from the dam.
Chelimo states that ELDOWAS and other organisations have been working to protect the dam’s water sources, placing supply of water to residents near the dam on the back burner.
He says it has been an uphill task convincing the Eldoret-based water company to supply piped water to residents in the hilly area where getting piped water to homes is difficult.
Chelimo says Moiben WRUA has presented a proposal to ELDOWAS to construct water tanks on the higher grounds of Chogoo and Kilima before being supplied to residents’ homes through gravity, since the area is hilly.
According to Chelimo, residents have become impatient; as they have been given assurances of being supplied with piped water for drinking and irrigating their farms for close to two decades but not a single promise has been fulfilled.
“Locals have been partaking in tree planting and other environmental conservation programmes, but their cry for piped water since the establishment of the dam has fell on deaf ears,” he says.
He says lack of piped water in most homes will pose a great danger as population in the area continues to increase due to an increasing number of public institutions in the area.
He points out the recent establishment of Kisii university campus, expansion of Chebiemit subcounty hospital and increasing number of secondary schools including Chebara boys and girls’ secondary school and Chebara youth polytechnic as institutions that have significantly increased human population and demand for clean water in the area.
“They (locals) are pinning their hopes on the latest agreement signed in mid 2015. It is our hope that they will finally get tap water in their homes,” says Mr Chelimo.
He discloses that Moiben WRUA has worked tirelessly in partnership with Kenya forest service to plant at least 100,000 tree seedlings in Kipkunur forest, an effort he says has made ELDOWAS pay attention to their demands for water supply.
He adds: “It has now agreed to supply water to Chebara and Chebiemit residents.”
According to traders in Chebara trading centre including a shopkeeper Gladys Kipchumba, the piped water deal with ELDOWAS is just a promise like the previous promises that have never yielded fruits.
Gladys wonders why a trading centre that is about a kilometer from a dam that quenches thirsty in the entire Eldoret town and its environs has no water.
“We only get water from the stream. We have no other sources.” she says.
Locals in Kaplenge, near Chebara dam transport water using donkeys. They have no piped water despite living near a dam/STEPHEN RUTTO
ELDOWAS Managing Director Reuben Tuwei says the company has invested in conserving the dam’s water sources.
Tuwei says the company, together with other organisations including Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA) and Nature Kenya have partnered to restore the source of Moiben River, which is the major source of the dam.
He points out that the company launched the first Chebara dam conservation run to raise funds that will be used in conservation of the dam and provision of water to locals as well.
“We launched Chebara conservation run in October 2015 to conserve the water sources around the dam and to protect the interests of residents,” he says.
He says the dam supplies 22,000 cubic metres of water per day to at least 500,000 households and at least 100 industries in Eldoret, adding conservation of the dam is central to the company.
According to records at the defunct Marakwet county council, the Sh1.2 billion dam was officially launched by retired president Daniel arap Moi in 1999.
It gets its water from Moiben River whose source is deep in Embobut forest in Kapyego and meanders through Kipkunur forest through Chebara to Uasin Gishu county.
At the Marakwet West subcounty hospital in Chebiemit, doctors say cases of water borne diseases in areas around the dam is have been on the rise.
Subcounty health officer Isaac Kipyego says poor sanitation-related diseases are frequent, despite preventive measures taken by the ministry to stem the illnesses.
Kipyego says several interventions have been rolled out to save residents from water borne diseases.
He says the ministry of health is working in collaboration with non governmental organisations to run behaviour change communication (BCC) programmes in a bid to reduce cases of sanitation related illnesses including typhoid and amoebiasis.
The programme, he says, aims at creating awareness on the use toilets rather than defecating in bushes near rivers around the dam and other areas in the subcounty putting locals’ health at risk.
“Most people have been defecating in bushes leading to spread of diseases. We have witnessed behaviour change that has led to reduction of water borne diseases.” Kipyego says.
Water from the dam flow to Eldoret town, 80 kilometres away, through gravity.
In the South Rift region, Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto and his Kericho counterpart Paul Chepkwony have raised concerns over the construction of Itare Dam that is set to supply water to Nakuru town halted.
They have cited negative environmental effects if the project in Ndoinet forest proceeds.
Kipsigis Council of Elders are also opposing the project, citing similar reasons.
In the Central region, controversy has rocked Northern Water Collector Tunnel that is aimed at supplying water to Nairobi following claims it will turn Muranga, Garissa, Ukambani and Tana River’s Delta regions into deserts, within five years of completion.
The project has attracted condemnation and support at an equal measure.
There have been concerns that proper public participation and consultation between state and local communities has not been taking place with regard to natural resources as enshrined in the constitution.
Article 69 of the constitution of Kenya 2010 states: “The State shall ensure sustainable exploitation, utilisation, management and conservation of the environment and natural resources, and ensure the equitable sharing of the accruing benefits.”