Water is life; let us conserve it

Even before the baby Moses of the Old Testament was found floating in a basket in its waters, River Nile was the life-line to the Egyptians for generations. Currently, it provides almost all the water they use in their homes, and industries and for irrigating their farms.

It was, therefore, misleading for Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to declare a few weeks ago that he was in Kenya seeking ways of improving trade between the two countries and mentioning River Nile in passing.

Top on his agenda was the future use of River Nile, but his diplomatic style was different from that of former President Hosni Mubarak.

Mr Mubarak once threatened to go to war with any country that interfered with the flow of this river. That is how serious water matters are to those facing scarcity, hence the World Water Day that is celebrated on March 22. It is important to look at the way we use this resource.

Many Kenyans who live in areas where water is in plenty know of its importance when taps run dry, or when the rivers they draw it from, or take their animals to drink dries up. This is why clubs are still watering their already green golf courses with water pumped directly from the drying rivers.

Down the same rivers, the fish we find on our tables are dying, while some rare aquatic organisms are facing extinction.

ARE DYING

At the same time, poor rural communities living downstream are dying of hunger and have no access to water for their domestic use and for their animals.

In our urban centers, some institution and well-to do residents are still watering their flower beds and lawns daily. It is in the same areas where car wash is a booming business.

All these mindless and wasteful use of the little water available is happening as families living in Kasarani, Nairobi or some other estate in the city, buy at exorbitant price every jerry can of water they use in their houses.

They carry the same on their backs to their fifth floor apartment.

This is happening in a land where flooding was in the news a few months’ ago, in a land with a full ministry dedicated to water matters and supported by bodies like the Water Resource Management Authority (Warma) and a host of water service boards.

Warma should seriously exercise its mandate by controlling the amount of water pumped from our rivers especially during the dry season.

This will ensure a fair access of this precious resource to all users both in the upper and lower parts of the rivers.

In the future, it should make it a requirement for anyone pumping water from our rivers to have an alternative source of water for use during the dry period. As such, a club watering its golf course with water from a neighbouring river should have its own bore hole to supplement its usage during the dry period.

MAKE MANDATORY

By-laws should be enacted that would make it mandatory for developers to include a water-harvesting and storage facility in every building. At the same time no car wash business should be allowed to use piped water during a water shortage period.

In area like the Tana River Delta where tension is always high during the dry period between the Pokomos who are herders, and the Orma and the Wardei farming communities, corridors should be created between the farms to allow the herders an easy access to the river. This will minimise the friction between the communities.

It is the responsibility of every Kenyan to conserve water and all wasteful use in our homes and all public places should stop immediately.

All taps should be tightly closed while every dripping faucet or pipe should be repaired immediately. It is also our duty to report to the nearest water service board any leakage we notice in our areas.

Water is life let us conserve it.

Andrew Maina is a writer and businessman.

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