Water Conservation in Kenya

  

Date Posted: 3/30/2018 7:58:40 AM

Posted By: ROZA  Membership Level: Silver  Total Points: 961

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Water conservation is the way we look for means of taking care of our water, by avoiding wastage of water and also looking for ways of water production. If we take a look at the way our country handles water, we will notice that during rainy seasons, rain water comes and causes havoc, however in hot seasons, there is drought. So what we need to do is to learn from the past, and our starting point should be to first know where our mistakes are as a country. The following are some of these mistakes:

i. The companies that deal with water concentrate, not so much on water production but on distribution and the commercial part of it so as to make a lot of money.

ii. In the past, there used to be agricultural officers that used to be called extension officers. Their work used to be to assist farmers in doing good and profitable farming and water harvesting used to be part of that training. This does not happen anymore and that has brought about many water and farming problems.

iii. Forests are being sold as plots for building houses; houses are even built near rivers where food like arrow roots used to be planted. We are trending on the same path that countries like Ethiopia have trended on and found them selves in problems. They have cut trees from their forests and on the mountains and we are doing the same thing. According to the international standards, forestation should be 10% and we should work hard not only to reach it but to surpass it.

iv. Companies like Kenya power and lighting use a lot water for the production of electricity, but they do not take part in water production.

But although we have made some mistakes, all is not lost we have a chance

to make our wrongs right and the following are some of the things we can do:

1. We need to do water harvesting, using water catchment areas. Water harvesting is holding rain water and catchment areas are what we are using to harvest the rain water. To do this we need to weigh our demand and consumption levels as far as water is concerned. That is, how much water do you use, and when is the water available, so as to know the size of tank to buy. In villages, the houses we live in are the ones we use and we put gutters on them, then we direct them to the tank. It would be preferable to dig a hole and put the tank in it. This will keep water from evaporating and also make the tank last for long because the heat from the sun destroys it.

2. For those who have big lands, they can construct a dam; they can then direct all the running rain water into it. To avoid dirty water, small dams are constructed right before the big dam so that the muddy water can first go into them and come out cleaner. If a dam can be constructed and it rains, that water can be used for farming through out the year even if the rains fail to come as expected during that whole year.

In conclusion, after all has been said and done, as a country, we have to make a choice if we are to go on as a developing economy, to take care of water production as well as conservation., because it all starts there.

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