Kenya Water Crisis - Challenges and Responses
Cause of water crisis: Kenya is facing a water crisis in which it cannot supply clean water to its population. This is mainly due to the overuse of land and
increases in community settlements. Citizens in Kenya have used land for their personal gain, creating homes and farms at the expense of natural biodiversity.
Deforestation causes soil erosion that pollutes the water in rivers. Furthermore, human and animal wastes are also dumped into the water, rubbing salt onto
the wound. Another cause is due to the influx of individuals moving to large cities, creating large slum areas with worst living conditions and most polluted
water in the whole world.
Solving the water crisis: After analyzing the underlying problem in the Kenya Water Crisis, this groups have come up with three solutions to tackle the
problems which can potentially solve the water crisis.
Solution 1 : Building Treatment Plants in parts
of Kenya where there is an abundance of
polluted water e.g. Mau Forest
Rationale: Kenya is not short of water, but short
of clean water. Thus, water treatment plants can
solve this problem completely.
Pros:
Building water treatment plants in parts of Kenya will improve the problem of water pollution as the
polluted water can be treated to clean water supply for people to use. As the main water crisis Kenya faces
is based on pollution, water treatment plants can overturn the problem such that polluted water can be used
to produce clean water.
For example, there is the highest rainfall rate of Africa in the Mau forest of Kenya. However, due to the
individuals that use the forest for their own benefits such as building homes and farms, soil eroded and
thus polluting the major river in the forest, rendering any rainfall useless as a source of clean water.
However, if a water treatment plant is to be built in Mau forest, the water can be treated to clean water,
supplying residents with clean water.
Cons:
Although water treatment plants sounds like a great solution, it is unlikely to be feasible. Firstly, it will
require a lot of funding, which the Kenya Government lacks in. As Kenya is still a developing country, its
current technology infrastructure might not be able to support a water treatment project as it requires a lot
of piping and pumping, as well as the treatment process itself.
Moreover, building a water treatment plant also requires a large land area. In the case of Mau forest, more
deforestation must be carried out to build the water treatment plant, which defeats the whole purpose of the
project.
Even if there is enough money to build the treatments plants, it is also difficult to transport the treated
water all around the country to different parts of Kenya with lack of clean water supply. After all, it is
impossible to build a water treatment plant as every settlement and community.
Solution 2: Building Satellite Towns.
Building satellite towns allow more people in
large cities to move out to these towns with
similar living experience.
Rationale: Kenya is also facing a problem in
which too many people are moving in to larger
cities like Nairobi as the larger cities are more
developed, making life more convenient. In
these cities, people can go access internet and
telecommunications easily, as well as living
near shopping centers and entertainment
centers. However, this creates a problem as
more people are polluting the water, resulting in
a higher demand for clean water supply. If the
government can provide incentives to encourage
these people to move to satellite towns where
there is equal benefits, the water problem can be
solved.
Solution 3: Provide education to people to teach
them the importance of water management and
teach them how to save water. The importance
of effective water management is important to
Kenya’s water supply.
Rationale: Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, was once
forest. Due to the cheap accommodation,
residents have been moving into Kibera. As a
result, deforestation and destruction of other
water catchment areas will thus lead to water
scarcity affecting them. Environmental impacts
such as the depletion of water catchment areas
Pros:
By building satellite towns, people will not be congested in one major city. Instead, they will be spread
throughout Kenya where there might be a sufficient supply of clean water. In larger cities such as Nairobi,
too many people live together, resulting in slums areas with worst living conditions as well as most
polluted water in the world. If the government can move these people to other places, it will relief the
overcrowding in Nairobi and eventually the living conditions will improve, as well as the quality of water
supply.
Moreover, by building satellite towns, new places can be made into settlements and community, and more
potential water sources can be found in these places.
Cons:
Building Satellite Towns, just like the first solution, need a lot of funding. The government has to invest a
lot of money to build a town for its people so that its water problem can be relieved. It is a hard decision,
as Kenya has very limited resources and money as it is still a developing country. Moreover, it has to give
incentives so that people want to move to the satellite towns instead of staying in the "comfort" of larger
cities.
Furthermore, there is also a risk factor in building satellite towns. It is possible that there is even less water
supply in the new town after relocating its people. This will not only provide a useless solution but will
also add on to the existing problem as the people staying in the satellite town will have limited access in
pure water. It is also difficult to transport the water to the satellite town if there is insufficient water, as the
satellite town is supposed to be built far from larger cities.
Pros:
From the first and second point, we understand that the population is growing rapidly and we do not have
clean water. The best solution will be to solve this problem once and for all, which is to change the way
people think. Firstly, it ensures that we will be monitoring the natural resources and their use. This ensures
that no one will be misusing it and we will be able to cut down on the water used per person. Future
generations that undergo education to care for their resources will understand the precious use of water and
therefore they will reduce the rate of pollution in Kenya. When the polluted water in Kenya decreases, the
amount of water that will be available for use will increase. Good water management will also have an
impact in the land usage in high lands and low lands. This will have a positive impact on the quantity and
quality of water in lowlands.
Through effective water management, there is a possibility that there are more water supplies to be found.
Not only so, it will teach future generations about the importance of water which will be useful as water
supplies in the world are declining.
affect the people of Kenya as there is a drastic
reduction of volumes of water supplied to the
country.
Cons:
Doing it is much harder than just saying what we can do. This is where the challenges come. To have
proper management, we need to search for efficient use of mountain-water resources. IN order to do this,
there will be a tedious process followed by debates about their uses. This may cause confusion in the
country where social and political problems might arise. Since water management is linked to land
management, people may disagree with the plans of being relocated or being forced to walk further to find
water. Therefore, the government will need to respect the people’s opinions and we may not be able to
receive acceptance from the opposition.
Moreover, some children do not have the privilege to attend school. Therefore, the concept of educating
the children will not be successful unless if education in Kenya is made compulsory.