Partnerships in meeting water demands

Under The International Congress of the African Water Association (AfWA), a scientific and technical forum that takes stock of the development of the water, sanitation and environmental sector in Africa, global water experts converged in Nairobi a few weeks ago.

The theme of the meeting was “sustainable access to water and sanitation in Africa.” As it is now generally accepted, Africa’s economies are growing at five per cent per annum and the emphasis on placing the continent on a higher trajectory in water matters is timely.

The conference agreed there is need for collaborative efforts between the private sector and governments to meet the 2030 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of making water accessible to all a reality.

Nairobi city currently receives only 550 million litres against a daily need of 730 million litres of water, presenting a 30 per cent supply deficit.

This comes against the backdrop of a rapidly increasing national population that has grown by 15 million people in the last ten years alone. It is projected that Nairobi alone will add another 470,000 people per annum to its existing population.

Over this same period, the pressure on nature will continue to grow exponentially. We are drilling deeper boreholes to get to the water table, excavating bigger dams to harvest more rain water, and considering installation of water pipelines from far flung areas to supply water to the city.

Meeting our water needs in Nairobi and the country is a collective task and responsibility that requires long term commitment.

The AfWA deliberations marked a crucial step towards achieving our desires to attain self-sufficiency in water supply, but a lot more still needs to be done. We need to reduce wastage, invest in efficient, water recycling systems and storage capabilities for future sustainability.

Through our raw materials sourcing agenda, we equip our suppliers with tools to protect water resources in the most water stressed locations while in production, our commitment is to reduce water use through a 50 per cent improvement in efficiency and returning of waste water from our operations to the environment safely.

This goal also includes replenishing water stressed areas with the equivalent amount of water used in our final products especially in water stressed areas.

Our Community strategy involves developing safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) projects in the water stressed watersheds. Lastly, our advocacy programs are meant to increase positive contribution, locally and globally, through collaborative efforts to improve water situation.

But even if the resolutions provide us hope for the future, they will not reverse water scarcity, drought conditions or erase our long-term prospects for hotter, drier weather. It is imperative that we develop better ways to account for the flow of water and how it is being used.

This is why in 2013, EABL with other partners, including the Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources and GIZ, convened an industry round-table meeting with the aim of building collaborative partnerships to address the future of water situation in Nairobi.

Our business has committed to ensuring a holistic approach to improving Kenya’s water infrastructure and we are encouraged by the impressive goodwill and cooperation among key stakeholders.

The Nairobi Water Fund is another programme that aims to tackle water scarcity in the city. It is an innovative public- private partnership bringing together major industry players administrated by The Nature Conservancy to fund improvements on how lands and water sources are managed upstream to benefit both farmers in the Upper Tana and water users in Nairobi.

Kenyans deserve an efficient, sustainable, and equitable water system, and we hope to continue working to ensure accessibility to water for all by the year 2030.