One of the big stories this week is about Cape Town’s water crisis and another 11 cities that are likely to run out of drinking water.
A BBC report a few days ago brought out the chilling fact that more than a billion people worldwide "lack access to water and another 2.7 billion find it scarce at least one month in a year".
For Kenya, this is a wake-up call.
Nairobi may not be ranked among the cities at risk of running out of water, but its residents are suffering from serious water stress, and the situation is getting worse.
Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company’s supply of 570,000 cubic metres a day falls far short of the demand of 720,000 cubic metres a day.
A more acute shortage will hit the city’s four million residents even harder.
Harvesting is a practical and cost-effective solution.
Another solution is to increase climate-resilient initiatives to conserve water sources.
Kenyans need to embrace smart conservation and climate change mitigation to reduce water stress, even in times of prolonged drought.
Doing this will reduce the increasing risk of conflicts over drinking water.