Environmentalists sensitize people about water catchment protection along the Ewaso Ng’iro River

Nanyuki, Thursday, June 8, 2023

KNA by Martin Munyi and Muturi Mwangi

With the recent prolonged drought situation in Kenya attributed to climate change, environmentalists have conducted a campaign along the Ewaso Ng’iro river to sensitise people on the need to conserve water catchment areas of the river basin.  

A three-day event dubbed Journey of water saw over 100 people drawn from local communities, water resources user associations, government and other non-governmental agencies participate in the 700-kilometre walk starting in Nanyuki, Laikipia County.

Ewaso Ng’iro river originates from Mount Kenya highlands and cuts across six counties of Nyandarua, Laikipia, Samburu, Isiolo, Laikipia and Meru and a population of about four million people depends on its waters for farming, livestock and domestic use.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Kenya, Fresh water thematic lead Dr William Ojwang’ says that with the increase in demand for water, they are implementing programmes aimed at securing water in the country.

“Water is everything and we should come together as Kenya and address and pay attention to the increasing water related risks. We have come up with the journey of water campaign second edition,” he said, noting that the first edition was held at River Malewa in Naivasha last year.

He decried that the river which has several tributaries including Ewaso Narok, Nanyuki, Osinyai, Milgis and Isiolo doesn’t benefit downstream communities due to obstruction along the way for livestock, farming and domestic use.

Dr Ojwang further points out that, as they continue to raise campaigns on the need to protect water sources, they should also highlight the degradation of the water catchment areas due to livestock keeping and agriculture. He calls for partnership by all stakeholders aimed at addressing water resource-based conflict.

Kenya Wildlife Service Laikipia Assistant Director Ms Rose Malenya reveals that wild animals depend on water and at the same time noted that , with the recent drought , wildlife were the worst hit.

“In the last season, we were affected since people had excessive water obstruction, especially in the flower farms and farmers in the river banks. In this campaign, we are telling communities that wildlife needs water,” said Ms Malenya.

Within Ewaso Ng’iro North Basin, there are Lorian swamp, Shaba, Buffalo springs and Samburu National reserve which many mammals and other wildlife depend on for water.

Mt Kenya Ewaso Ng’iro water partnership coordinator Stanley Kirimi points out that the walk will ensure environmental stakeholders and people living downstream of Ewaso Ng’iro River and those upstream have equitable share of the water resource.

“This pulls together all partners that use the Ewaso Ng’iro basin. We look at all the water users and get them to talk about a very common resource and be able to share it, discuss and see how everyone living in the basin gets an equitable amount of water they require,” said Kirimi.

Kirimi says that those living downstream are often disadvantaged due to water obstruction by those in the upstream areas.

“Savannahs are dry and people downstream have water challenges and since we are in the same ecosystem, we should be able to give everyone an opportunity to share this very important resource,” he added.

He reveals that the increase of population has played a major role in water commodity scarcity.

Sustainable Energy Access Forum Kenya Coordinator Brian Omenyi appealed for more tree growing in the water catchment areas.

Ms Wangui Gikonyo, a youth who was one of the awareness campaign participants who braved harsh weather conditions including rain, slippery roads, scorching sun and steeply walkways in both Nanyuki and the Mount Kenya forest respectively as they sought to ensure the importance of God-given resource-river, appealed to youth to take interest in environment conservation.

Moreen Maina, a Naibor resident from Laikipia County, speaking on the second day of the journey of the water awareness campaign urged for more borehole and dam sinking to mitigate water scarcity in the area.

They noted that hundreds of rivers during the dry period had dried, pointing out Lake Olbosolat which affected livelihood among Kenyans.

The participants of the walk noted that the river basin was heavily polluted especially downstream largely due to irrigation and use of agrochemicals and other human activities.

Courtesy ; K. N. A