A local NGO on Tuesday held a water users' stakeholders meeting in Machakos county.
Centre for Social Planning and Administrative Development Kenya held a meeting with a 100 stakeholders comprising representatives from various civil society organisations, national and Machakos county, community self-help groups and media.
The stakeholders discussed water resources situation in the county and challenges faced by residents in accessing clean, safe and reliable water and solutions to the identified problems.
Cespad Kenya executive director Asha Shaban said the organisation will collaborate with other stakeholders in the county and national government to avoid projects' duplication among actors in the water sector.
Shaban said they were looking on how they could collaborate, use limited resources to cover bigger mileage and have more citizens empowered in making decisions on matters water.
“We are all aware with regards to what’s happening in Machakos county in terms of water scarcity and the kind of water quality we are getting, especially issues of pollution, urbanisation and lots of demands that are coming up which outweigh water supply,” the executive director said.
She spoke to the Star shortly after the meeting ended at Semara hotel in Machakos county.
Shaban said residents needed to look at how they could have enough water to use for irrigation to sustain themselves in terms of food security in this era when the country is faced with drought.
“We have just come from the Cop27 meeting and are looking for ways on how we can scale that down so that the locals can benefit from what was discussed at the international meeting,” Shaban said.
“We are glad that loss and damage fund was passed by the delegates and we are looking at how a local farmer in Machakos can get the fund in terms of compensation for either loss of crops they had planted due to lack of rain or livestock which many people are losing due to the ongoing drought.”
She said they also discussed pollution, especially in River Athi, which is the second longest river in Kenya and passes through Machakos county.
Shaban said there were lots of industrial companies in the county, especially within Mavoko subcounty, that were polluting the river.
“How do we manage the wastes that they are churning into rivers and coming to affect residents downstream?” she said.
The environmentalist said there were heavy metals in the rivers as a result of pollution which affect residents’ health, leading to diseases like cancer.
Shaban said they were also looking into how residents could tap the little water they had.
“The amount of rains we are receiving is reducing. So, how do we tap the little rain fall that we are getting?” she said.
Shaban said there was need to invest in water harvesting to reduce the amount of water that gets to the Indian Ocean thereby being wasted.
“There is a lot of urbanisation and development. Let’s learn to balance between development and environmental issues,” she said.
She said out of three per cent of water, only 0.1 per cent was available for human usage, with 87 per cent locked up in lakes.
Cespad currently has projects in eleven counties, including Machakos, Makueni, Baringo, Siaya, Kakamega, Kisumu, Kisii, Nyamira and Kwale.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
