Why access to clean, safe water elusive in Coast

During last year’s World Water Day, Taita Taveta Governor Andrew Mwadime used the dried up Kishenyi Dam in Werugha Ward, as the venue to mark the event in a move he said was purposefully “to show the world how nature can turn against us when we destroy it.”

The dam has been a key water source to thousands of farmers, especially within Werugha in Wundanyi and other parts of the lowlands. Today, however, the dam is defined by patterns of gaping mud cracks from dried up deposits of silt that tell a story of a thirsty land.

“Wanton environmental degradation has resulted in desertification of hills which are our main water catchments resulting in the current water shortages. I call upon residents to desist from farming along the river and dam peripheries,” noted Mwadime.

Over the years, most parts of Taita Taveta were characterised by lush vegetation cover, dotted with multiple rivers and springs meandering smoothly in between sloping sides and sharp, rounded ridges of the scenic green hills.

During heavy rains, volumes of water cascading various waterfalls along different rivers would increase significantly with the sounds of roaring rivers becoming even livelier, echoing through the neighborhoods as though in competition. The region has borne features of a true gem, perhaps sharing close resemblance with the biblical earthly paradise of the Garden of Eden.

For instance, Lwada Falls in the remote end of Dembwa areas of Mwatate sub-county has been a breathtaking falls that drops from tall, moss-lined rocks and boulders in a narrow canyon, flanked by an abundance of nature of indigenous cover mostly of wild date palms.

Before the early 90s, small springs would emanate from the area flowing downwards where they served as a source of livelihoods for thousands of residents. Then, Non-Governmental Organisations including Plan International moved in to fund projects by installing water pipes and building giant tanks to supply piped water to local households.

Plan set up a small water dam at Mangalasinyi area, which became the major intake for the tapped water. Today however, the situation in Taita Taveta is a pale shadow of its former self. Water levels in most of these water sources have drastically dwindled.

Most of the rivers have been reduced to rocky contours and dams that once resembled the glassy surface of lakes have now been filled with heavy deposits of silts. The once flourishing Mangalasinyi has now become a shallow pan with little water crawling through deposits of dry sand. Its effect has been recurrent water shortage.

Butterfly farming

John Maghanga, a biodiversity researcher attached to Nature Kenya, reckons that effects of climate change coupled with human activities is to blame for the dwindling water volumes in rivers.
“We have introduced butterfly farming in local schools where we have encouraged teachers, pupils and their parents to plant indigenous trees to attract butterflies. We believe it will help in conservation,” he explains.

According to Prof Petri Pellikka, Director of multidisciplinary Taita Research Station of the University of Helsinki in Kenya, most of the local springs and waterfalls which used to flow nicely from the hilltops in the 80’s are no more following destruction of forests.

“I have seen these dry rivers in Taita now for 20 years, and I think it is normal rainy season/dry season fluctuation. If Taita hills were more forested, this fluctuation would not be as severe as forest would catch the fog in the air, and in forest water infiltrates better to soil generating ground water, better than on barren lands, grazing or croplands. That would keep the spring alive and water in the rivers,” explains Pellikka, also a professor of Geoinformatics at the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science.

“Forest soil absorbs water more effectively compared to fields or pastureland. Ground litter slows down the flow rate, and the roots of trees make the soil porous. When the mist comes into contact with trees, leaves, branches and the mosses that grow on them, they capture the moisture and the water falls to the ground in drops,” prof says in his recent study investigating environmental changes.

Water crisis is not an exclusive problem of Taita Taveta but a shared crisis across the Coast region.
In Mombasa, an Island engulfed by the Indian Ocean has ironically remained partially thirsty despite uncountable promises by political leaders.

Without its own source of water, Mombasa relies on water supplied by giant pipes from Mzima springs in Taita Taveta; Baricho in Kilifi and Tiwi boreholes in Kwale.

Jubilee administration, in their 2013 manifesto, promised “to ensure every Kenyan will have access to clean, safe running water by 2020.”

Pipe dream

Similarly promises were made by Hassan Joho, who pledged to move heaven and earth to avail “clean drinking water by the end of 2016” if elected pioneer governor.

The aforementioned pledges re-emerged in campaigns for 2017 elections and again by Joho’s successor Abdulswamad Nassir, who promised to ensure “sustainable and affordable access to safe water for the entire Mombasa.”

In his 10-point agenda as captured in his manifesto, Nassir had promised to “operationalise a seawater desalination plant to offer residents an alternative source of potable water and further crackdown on water cartels that are exploiting the public.”

But for residents, the promises have remained a pipe dream. For instance, residents in the sprawling slums of Bangladesh area in Jomvu constituency are at the mercy of philanthropists and NGOs which donate free water via water boozers once weekly.

It is against this backdrop that investors are carving a niche for themselves by capitalising on the existing shortage to make a kill. Investors have set up mushrooming kiosks that host giant water tanks, from where residents fill their Jerrycans at a fee. A 20-liter Jerrycan goes for between Sh10 to Sh20.

Eng Chihanga Donda, who served as a technical manager at Coast Water Services for 10 years, says considering the growing population, it has been difficult for the available sources to satisfy the growing water demand.

“Water from Baricho, Mzima springs and Tiwi is supplied via old bulk water systems that were installed when the population was still growing. We have not substantially increased production to meet the demand.

For Baricho, the government increased boreholes but because it uses a pumping system involving abstraction of groundwater from boreholes with the aid of giant water pumps that consume a lot of power. In a month the electricity bill is more than Sh40 million. And in most cases people suffer following electricity disconnection due to high bills,” explains Donda.

Existing bulk systems are old and rundown, a situation which exposes the County to losses through non-revenue water. Non-Revenue Water (NRW) is water that has been produced and is “lost” before it reaches the customer. Losses can be real losses through leaks, or apparent losses such as through theft or metering inaccuracies.

Donda says often Mombasa cannot account for 50 per cent of water supplied from its sources in Mzima, Baricho and Tiwi.

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