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Bring back the Water


It's that time of the year again, the rainy season has started...though there's really not much rain, is there?

It makes me reminiscent of last year when this was the time to pull out the jackets, dust off our boots and buy new umbrellas (cause we knew the last one didn't make it out alive. Note to self, stop buying those cheap umbrellas), time to prepare for crazy traffic and hiked up fare prices... because for some mysterious reason the rain makes buses more expensive to run than when its not raining. Generally, we struggled through the awful rain. 


Cars driving on flooded streets. Photo credits: Capital FM & Rural Reporters respectively. 

Everyday was ripe for a shocking headline:"Heavy Flooding in Eastleigh town", "Motorists stuck in Highway Flood!", "Nairobi, a Drainage Nightmare"...And as the journalists reported, we consumed the information with utter horror and sometimes beguilement. The water continued to flood and flow, and drain off into some unknown place...never to be seen again. 
A man struggles to cross a road in Nairobi on May 2, 2016 after heavy downpour in the city. Photo credits: Robert Ngugi, Nation Media Group


2017: Drought & the power of Rain Water


Now it's 2017, and it is dry... Kenya declared the ongoing drought a national disaster, calling for aid to mitigate the impact on affected people, livestock and wildlife. Rivers that flowed to the point of breaking their banks last year are now all dried out. 

In Athi River town for instance, there is an acute shortage of water with the residents being forced to buy water from vendors. The vendors themselves report that they are having an exceedingly difficult time accessing water as the rivers are all dried out. 

Farmers are not left behind in this with their farms yielding below the expected threshold leading to food insecurity in the country. Pastoralists are forced to travel longer distances in search of water and pastures for their livestock who bear the brunt of it all. 

This is not the first year that Kenya declares a drought emergency. According to Kenyan researchers Julius Huho and Edward Mugalavai, in the last 100 years Kenya has recorded 28 droughts, three of them in the last decade. In the same breath, we have consistently had two rainy seasons each year in the last 100 years with most of the surface run off  (including flood water) going to waste. 

Consider desert economies like Israel, Saudi Arabia and Australia. Israel is a major exporter of fresh produce and a world-leader in agricultural technologies in spite of Israel's land not being naturally and geographically conducive for agriculture. Most of its land is a desert with desert climate and a lack of water resources. Only 20% of the land is naturally arable but through innovative water reservoirs and harvesting, a land that should be dry and unproductive is flourishing.

Source: Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael 
Jewish National Fund

We have the Indian ocean, several major lakes and rivers, two rainy seasons, drainage basins...the list is endless. There is greater potential for Kenya to secure its water resources.  How much more can Kenya do? 



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