Kenya banking on sustainable water conservation to tame climate crisis

Kenya has ramped up investments in water conservation to help local communities deal with negative impacts of climate change, a government official said on Wednesday.

Julius Korir, principal secretary in the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Irrigation, said that climate change is altering hydrological cycles in the country, necessitating novel measures to conserve the commodity.

"The rainfall patterns have changed due to effects of climate change hence making water availability more unpredictable," Korir said at a forum on improving water security in Kenya's dry lands in light of climate change held in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.

He noted that over 40 percent of Kenya's population lack access to clean water and adequate sanitation due to the effects of climate change as well as rapid population growth and poor management of the resource.

According to Korir, Kenya has embarked on water harvesting and storage, catchment protection, and restoration, rehabilitation and exploitation of groundwater to boost access to the commodity among households and industrial premises.

The official added that the government has launched the 100 dam initiative to serve populations that are currently undergoing water scarcity besides rolling out robust measures to shield water sector from climatic shocks.

Stephen Kiama, vice-chancellor at the University of Nairobi, noted that severe droughts have worsened water stress in the country, taking a toll on marginalized communities in semi-arid zones.

Kiama stressed that evidence-based research and data are required to guide water institutional and infrastructure investments which unlock growth opportunities and help communities overcome poverty.

Kiama said that in the last decade, interdisciplinary research conducted by geologists, meteorologists, climate scientists, anthropologists, and sociologists has informed the roll-out of viable strategies to tackle Kenya's endemic water scarcity.

During the daylong forum in Nairobi, participants observed that rapid urban growth, unregulated pollution from industry, extreme floods, and droughts, lack of reliable and safe drinking water, and increasing damage to water ecosystems bode ill to Kenya's sustainable future.

(Cover image: A sand dam is constructed to help minimize water loss through evaporation and recharge groundwater in Makueni County, Kenya, Feburary 29, 2024. / CFP)