Ecology

Nama                        : Nor Azizah

NIM/Off                   : 150341600287 / A

Nama Penulis Artikel : Samantha Marshall

Sumber Artikel          : Samantha Marshall. 2011. The Water Crisis in Kenya: Causes, Effects and Solutions. Global Majority E-Journal Vol.2 31-45.

Introduction

There are about 40 million people living in Kenya, of which about 17 million (43 percent) do not have access to clean water.¹ For decades, water scarcity has been a major issue in Kenya, caused mainly by years of recurrent droughts, poor management of water supply, contamination of the available water, and a sharp increase in water demand resulting from relatively high population growth. The lack of rainfall affects also the ability to acquire food and has led to eruptions of violence in Kenya. In many areas, the shortage of water in Kenya has been amplified by the government‟s lack of investment in water, especially in rural areas.

Causes of The Water Crisis

1.      Droughs

Over the past decade Kenya has experienced a severe drought. Global warming is one critical factor that has prolonged the drought and as a result, millions of Kenyans are unable to grow their crops and keep their livestock alive.

2.      Forest Degradation

The largest forest in Kenya, Mau, distributes water to six lakes plus eight wildlife reserves, and some 10 million people depend on its rivers for a living. However, loggers and farmers have destroyed a quarter of Mau‟s 400,000 hectares.⁷ The problem with deforestation is that it almost always leads to increased runoff, which has negative implications in both the rainy as well as the subsequent dry season.

3.      Floods

Most parts of Kenya have two rainy seasons, March to May (long rains) and October to November (short rains), with the intensity of these rains having increased recently due to an increased climate variability.⁸ According to a report of the Government of Kenya (2001), in addition to annual local floods, the country experienced major floods in 1961 and in 1997/1998.

4.      Poor Management of Water Supply

For many years there has been an increased need for (i) funding, (ii) management and (iii) development of water resources in Kenya because of the increasing population as well as the country‟s increasing use of water for agriculture. However, the actions taken have not been effective because organizations in charge of managing water resources have failed in multiple ways.

5.      Contamination of Water

The disability to maintain clean water in Kenya is another main reason for the worsening of the water crisis in Kenya. Many Kenyans use wells to obtain domestic water and also use pit latrines that are often close in distance to the wells. This causes contamination of the wells because the microorganisms travel from the pit latrines to the wells.\

6.      Population Growth

Kenya‟s relatively high population growth has had another negative impact on having access to safe water. With an increase in population, water is less accessible.

Effects of the Water Crisis

There are three main categories that include different types of diseases related to unsafe water:

·      Water-based: this category includes diseases such as malaria and infestinal worm diseases (schistosomiasis).

·      Water-borne: this category includes diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, diarrhea and dysentery.

·      Water-washed: this category includes diseases such as eye infections and skin diseases.

Some Recently Proposed Solutions

1)      Rehabilitation and protection of indigenous forests in the five Water Towers

This plan aims to promote sustainable management of the forests and preserve cultural and religious sites, medicine sources, water catchments and habitats for widespread and threatened flora and fauna.

2)      Water resources information management

This plan aims to restore and attain a new hydro-metric, which will be installed in surface water and groundwater resources.

3)      Water storage and harvesting

This plan aims to develop two multi-purpose dams with a storage capacity of 2.4 billion cubic meters along the Nzoia and Nyando rivers.

4)      National water and supply sanitation

This project aims to expand the Mzima pipeline to meet the demands of the coastal towns and also cover urban water supply and sanitation in the satellite towns around Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Kisii along 26 medium-size towns that have the capability to support manufacturing and tourism activities.