Missed opportunity: On El-Nino, ineptitude of public planners to blame for our iffy response

By Silas Apollo

The onset of the ongoing long rains in the country once again ignited debate on the need for the government to invest more in rain harvesting techniques in the country and for posterity.

For the better part of November, Kenya experienced extended periods of rain, sometimes leading to flooding in other areas, death and even the destruction of property.

The onset of the rains, termed the El-Nino phenomenon by the Kenya Meteorological Department, has also highlighted the country’s lack of preparedness in rain harvesting methods and techniques.

Kenya has been considered a water-scarce country for many years, with a per capita water availability of less than 600 cubic meters, below the global threshold of 1000 cubic meters per capita, according to the United Nations.

And while the country’s water coverage is estimated to be at a national average of about 80% as of 2022, the per capita scarcity has been considered a critical barrier towards achieving Kenya’s socio-economic development, including Vision 2030.

Efforts towards promoting water harvesting using various methods have been low, with agencies such as the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority consistently on the spot over the lack of enough infrastructure for water harvesting.

Some of these problems have been mainly blamed on the lack of resources to set up the harvesting areas, such as dams, for large-scale use.

Lack of awareness among communities and members of the public has also been blamed for the slow uptake of rain harvesting methods.

Just recently, in November, governors led by Mohamud Ali of Marsabit said that many counties could not harvest much of the rainfall experienced in most parts of the country due to lack of resources.

Ali, speaking during a media interview said that his county, the second-largest in Kenya, has been among one of the most affected by floods as a result of the El Nino rains, but with little resources to harvest the rains.

Marsabit had until the start of the short rain season in October, been one of the regions ravaged by drought.

Efforts towards promoting water harvesting using various methods have been low, with some of the issues being blamed on the lack of resources.

“We know too well this water is needed very soon when it dries up and becomes hot… We need to construct dams to collect this water. But unfortunately, from the counties’ perspective, the biggest challenge is resources,” Ali said.

“The resources which are available to us, once you take care of the critical unavoidable things such as salaries, you are left with no room for other impactful projects,” he added.

At the local level, many communities and families have also been struggling with a knowledge gap on collecting rainwater and additional funds to purchase materials such as water tanks.

In Narok county, one of the country’s leading pastoral areas, the Kenya Meteorological Department had, at the start of the year, moved into sensitive members of the community on the need for water harvesting.

“I advise everybody to collect and store water because a season is coming when the sun will be scorching, and the water level in the rivers will go down,” Narok County Meteorological Director Peter Lunanu told residents in January.

Elsewhere in the counties of Kajiado and Marsabit, local leaders have been collaborating with community members to purchase water tanks for water storage during rainy seasons.

And to mitigate some of these challenges and bridge the gap in rainwater harvesting techniques, the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority says that it has been on a journey to build additional infrastructure across the country.

The authority says it has worked hard to construct over 1,100 small dams and pans, flood control systems and other water infrastructure.

The dams, with a cumulative storage capacity of approximately 20 million mᶟ, have mainly been constructed in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs).

“Additionally, we have drilled and equipped approximately 2000 boreholes serving six million people in various parts of the country,” the authority said.