Residents of two Turkana subcounties will benefit from a Sh700,000 million water and sanitation project.
The Turkana county government in collaboration with Korea International Cooperation Agency and Unicef will strengthen community resilience to climate change through the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) project.
The four-year initiative targets residents of Loima and Turkana Central subcounties.
Andrew Trevett, WASH chief at Unicef, said Turkana people have suffered for many years because of lack of water and poor sanitation .
“More than 230,000 people will benefit from improved sanitation and 100,000 people will access safe drinking water. The project will bring tremendous benefits to the households and social wealth," he said.
Trevet said water and sanitation is central to all sectors of development and urged MCAs to prioritise the provision of water in budgets.
KOICA deputy country director Yunjung Han urged the county and national governments to be involved in the implementation of the project.
Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok said the county government is allocating a huge percentage of its budget to the provision of water services.
"Water from Napuu aquifer that serves Lodwar town and its environs is fresh but the bigger aquifer in Lotikipi and boreholes around Lake Turkana are saline and fluoridated," he said.
Water executive Emathe Namuar said 93 sites had been identified for drilling of boreholes in the two subcounties.
He said test pumping of eight boreholes has been done in Sopel, Natir, Koono, Lokiriama BH3, Locheralomala, Lochoresekon, Lokuyen and Natwel.
