Time to declare water shortage a national disaster

By Moses Kuria

Water, or rather the lack of it, may be the country’s largest potential source of instability. The old adage that water is life is not just a clichÈ. For everyone, from industrialists to pastoralists, lack of water implies a threat to livelihoods. As Kenya is a ‘thirsty’ country, with no water to satisfy current needs, the threat is huge.

In Nairobi, water demand stands at 650,000 cubic metres a day. Available capacity is 480,000 cubic metres a day, 74 per cent of current demand. Distributed capacity, however, is only 380,000 cubic metres a day, 58 per cent of demand. If available capacity were distributed, and rainfall patterns remained unchanged, Nairobi would have no water by December!

Ndakaini dam, which provides 80 per cent of Nairobi’s water needs and depends largely on adequate rainfall, holds only about 38 per cent of its capacity. Sasumua dam, meant to be supplementing Ndakaini, has been under repair for some time.

A Transparency International report released recently was a damning indictment of the way we manage water, replete with tales of petty and grand corruption. It is curious no one is asking the Water Minister or Permanent Secretary to step aside and take "political responsibility".

Time is running out for us to fix the water problem. If I were Environment Minister John Michuki, I would not prioritise the Nairobi River clean-up operation. If nothing is done to re-forest Mt Kenya and Aberdares catchment areas, the river will dry up naturally. So why bother cleaning?

The Water Act of 2002 has been hailed as a major milestone in reforming the water sector. There have been some successes. Unfortunately, the Act also created unnecessary bureaucracy. From the National Water Resources Management Authority, the National Water Services Board, the regional board, the National Water and Pipeline Corporation, Water Services Providers, the Water Services Trust and other amorphous units, we have too many entities pretending to manage water.

Our fascination with water boards is baffling. Can you imagine a situation where a mobile phone operator has to be licensed by another board alongside Communications Commission of Kenya? The new round of reforms in the water sector should provide for only one regulator and regional operators. That relationship ought to be simple and direct.

The President and the Prime Minister have to set the right tone for this grave problem by declaring the prevailing water shortage to be a national disaster. This will send a message to all the relevant government departments, the private sector and the international community that more of the same waffling will lead us to catastrophic destinations.

—The writer heads the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.