Speaking recently during a two-day water summit held in Naivasha, the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Water and Sanitation, Simon Chelugui, said Kenya was keen to improve its water harvesting capabilities and curb wastage.
“We have a pendulum between floods and drought, but looking forward the new strategic plan of the ministry is to have a fair balance so we are looking at modern ways of conservation and storage,” Chelugui remarked at the summit which ended on Friday.
According to Engineer Daniel Ng’ang’a, the Water Services Providers Association’s Chairperson, up to 43 per cent of water generated in the country is either lost or unaccounted for, a situation that has hampered the development of better infrastructure owing to diminishing revenues.
“We have to understand that there’s need to rehabilitate networks to reduce wastage because most water services providers are using systems that were done before independence,” he said during the Kenya Water Summit.
“It is important to try and reduce the losses we have in our towns and that can only be done through the upgrade of infrastructure and ensure we have proper management in place,” Ng’ang’a said.
Ng’ang’a’s sentiments were echoed by Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi who chairs the Council of Governor’s Committee in charge of Water, Forestry, and Mining.
It is anchored in Vision 2030 and is key to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals, he said.
Kenya has in the recent past been faced with an unprecedented drought that has affected 3.4 million people most of whom have limited access to clean drinking water.
Water scarcity in Nairobi has, for instance, led to the introduction of rationing program with the city’s water levels at dams supplying the capital with water reported to be sinking.
The national per capita water supply per annum also remains low standing at 647 cubic meters.