Water and energy solutions company Davis & Shirtliff has warned counties from drilling unplanned boreholes saying they risk depleting ground water resources in the country.
The company has said indifference to the legislation that governs drilling of boreholes could ultimately have adverse effects on the aquifers and the quality of water in them.
CEO David Gatende said it was time Kenya sought ways to protect her surface and underground water resources effectively.
He gave examples of instances where people are drilling boreholes within few meters of each other yet the law requires boreholes must be at least 100 meters apart.
"Drilling boreholes is a science that must follow strict rules to ensure they are beneficial to all dynamics including the environment."
A number of county governments normally resort to boreholes to stem water shortages in their jurisdictions.
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"People are looking for the cheapest and quickest way to have boreholes and this is threatening to deplete the resources," Gatende said.
He noted that before drilling a borehole, both a hydro-geological survey and an Environmental Impact Assessment test have to be carried out.
"Failure to carry out a thorough due diligence can cause a number of problems to the aquifer the borehole will tap from," Gatende said.
"Due diligence involves making sure that the material used to construct the borehole will not for example contaminate the surrounding area."
Gatende added that it was important to involve hydrogeologists who design and carry out tests that make sure the borehole performs as expected.
In 2016, Nairobi County alone reported 4,000 illegal boreholes that had been dug without the authorisation from the supervising authority which is Water Resources Management Authority (WRMA).
The report at the time stated that out of about 6,000 boreholes in the city, only 2,000 were in the WRMA’s borehole database system.
Gatende, however, stated that Kenya had enough water resources for all types of use including irrigation.
"But the sustainability of these resources is pegged on proper planning and flagrant disregard for best practice would be disastrous for the country."
Some of the issues that may arise from lack of due diligence before drilling a borehole include depletion of the aquifer, especially if the replenishing of the aquifer was not put into consideration, and having a dry or low yielding borehole among others.
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