• County accused of 'mismanaging' water resources
• The county has also allegedly allowed farmers along Nol-Turesh water pipeline to use treated water for irrigation
All water sources in Kajiado will dry up if rains fail for two years, opinion leaders warned on Thursday.
They claimed residents of Loitokitok, in Kajiado South are crossing over to Tanzania to fetch water.
They claimed the county has been 'mismanaging' water resources.
They told officers from the county water department to explain why the county government is not making any efforts to reclaim water towers in Kajiado.
Water chief officer Douglas Konana declined to comment on the county’s water shortfall when contacted for comment.
The opinion leaders from all the five subcounties in Kajiado were attending a workshop on application of geo-data in water resources management.
The one-day event was organised by Wetlands International in partnership with the USAid, the SERVIR grants programme and the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development.
The agencies are collecting data in Kajiado and Machakos for the implementation of a nine-month project on geo-data in water resources management.
Wetlands International policy and advocacy officer Titus Wamae said, “This project will focus on strengthening both the institutional and technical capacity of water resource user associations and county officials.”
Wamae said the project hopes to influence private sector investment opportunities based on their contribution towards ecosystem management.
Participants claimed Nol-Turesh River that supplies almost 70 per cent of water to farmers along the pipeline from the base of Mt Kilimanjaro to Sultan Hamud and parts of Makueni have been mismanaged.
“Poor resource allocation, lack of involvement in local communities in water supply decision-making and poor participation in development projects have played a major role in the breakdown in the management of water resources,” Peter Sule said.
Another participant questioned why the county government is allowing farmers to use treated water from Nol-Turesh pipeline to irrigate their farms, yet residents of Emali and Sultan Hamud need it.