•In 2014, the Wajir County Water and Sewerage Company was set up to provide water supply and sewerage services in Wajir's main towns.
•Like many public entities, the company's existence has not been without challenges related to management, technical and financial issues.
Image: FILE
The national and county governments have for the last nine years been investing in water infrastructure to improve access to clean water for Wajir residents.
There is increased drilling of boreholes and the establishment of other water projects.
The boreholes are in Areswaji, Masalale, Kursi, Sangow, Danaaba, Dardar, Asal, Jira, arbajahan, Leheley (Kotulo), Gunana, Jukala, Jai Jai, Qudama and Batalu.
Other projects being implemented include the Waradey water supply project, Bilatulamin water project, Arole Jig Jiga water supply for Wajir town and Bute dam water supply which will start soon.
Last month Water, Sanitation and Irrigation Principal Secretary Joseph Njoroge commissioned the Tula Tula water project in Eldas.
The project entailed the drilling and equipping of two boreholes at Griftu producing 2.9 cubic metres of water per hour.
The project which is equipped and run by generators and solar pumping systems, is fully funded by the Ministry of Water and implemented by Northern Water Works Development Agency at Sh63 million.
Northern Water Works Development Agency chairperson Shaban Ali Isaak said 12,800 households and 500 heads of livestock will benefit from the project upon completion.
The rapid expansion in the water sector has been made possible due to increased funding largely through county and national level development budgets.
This is in line with the constitution where the responsibility of water service delivery is now devolved to county governments whose budgetary allocations were boosted to enable them to carry out their development mandate.
However, Wajir residents continue to face acute and prolonged water shortages, particularly during the dry season.
Many water investments are not functional years after establishment due to poor planning, design and management of water supply systems.
In 2014, the Wajir County Water and Sewerage Company was set up to provide water supply and sewerage services in Wajir's main towns.
Like many public entities, the company's existence has not been without challenges related to management, technical and financial issues.
Other hiccups have been resistance by some communities to hand over their water supply systems to WAJWASCO.
Outside of the main towns, community-level water operators or Water User Associations manage rural water supplies.
Challenges experienced include poor social accountability, weak financial transparency, limited community representation, technical and management capacity gaps.
These are some of the challenges noted during a survey spearheaded by the Wajir County Water Development department.
It was supported by WAJWASCO, Mercy Corps, and the International Institute for Environment and Development, under the Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters programme.
A major issue identified in the study is the lack of citizen stakeholder engagement in the design of water projects at the inception of the project with communities only being informed later during the implementation and launch of a project.
This is particularly the case for women, who, according to Wajir Maendeleo ya Wanawake chairperson Rukia Abdullahi Barrow, have a very weak voice in water development; a recognised failure since it is women who are responsible for domestic water provision.
Livestock herders have lamented the lack of consultation and representation over water matters saying they are not consulted on water development because they are out herding their livestock, thus their needs for livestock water use are not being taken into account.
Barrow said major stakeholders such as women are left out as a result of the establishment of water points being initiated by politicians seeking to gain influence and votes and is then driven by contractors with links to government and donors.
“The result of such projects is neither establishment of water points that are not demand-driven nor reflects the priorities of the water consumers,” she said.
The emphasis on water development is happening at the expense of good water governance.
Principal Livestock production officer Julius Kienji, a rangeland management expert said this is happening at the expense of environmental and social considerations, as it does not take account of sustainable rangeland management practices
Kienji said new water points are being placed without consideration for livestock wet and dry season grazing areas or pastoral mobility patterns, leading to the overuse and degradation of pastures.
He said this practice has devastating long-term effects since it is estimated that over 70 per cent of Wajir’s population depends on livestock as their mainstay economic activity.
This poor planning, Kienji said, is the result of a lack of coordination between the institutions involved in water governance, such as between the departments of water, livestock, energy and irrigation and between the national and county government.
In Wajir, water points are known to be conflict hotspots whereby conflict arises in the absence of clear governance rules over access to water and pasture resources and due to the absence of appropriate policies.
Wajir county commissioner Jacob Narengo said the scarcity of water has triggered conflicts between the communities of Hadado and Merti on the Wajir and Isiolo border.
This is due to water resources and pasture sharing leading to the deaths of more than 20 people in the last two years.
Water Resource Development Department chief officer Abdurhan Ali Sheikh said the development of Wajir needs to be underpinned by a strong community engagement process that prioritises citizens’ needs and incorporates them into policy-making through active participation in the whole process.
Abdurhan said policy and practice in arid lands should take a differentiated approach to water development that considers domestic and livestock water needs separately.
“We aim at strengthening water governance and improving the coordination between different institutions and departments to realize a more sustainable and inclusive water sector,” he said on Wednesday.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris