Water Crisis in Kenya

Water is a basic necessity for the survival of all human beings. The importance of water cannot be stressed enough and especially for Kenyans who suffer two water related problems: lack of drinking water and consumption of contaminated water. Apart from drinking water, in large cities such as Nairobi there are problems with the lack of any kind of water. In such cases people have to over pay for clean water, try and purify water themselves or go without water because there are times water does not reach homes for many days. All these choices have their own individual consequences which usually cause more harm than good. For example: Having to over pay for water means less money to use around the house; purifying water can often cause poisoning and various diseases (depending on method) and ends up becoming hazardous and very expensive and going without water has many hygiene and sanitation issues around it.

Indeed, we have all heard of the drought in Northern Kenya in late 2011 which affected over a million people in various ways. During the drought people Left their homes and pulled their children out of schools to move into places near water sources as they could no longer provide for themselves due to lack of water. People lost their lives, jobs, homes and it was all because of water. People in good living conditions usually misuse water but in such places it is a very valuable commodity which can save lives. Due to the water crisis, women in rural areas use about one-third of their day fetching water and often go without bathing because in such areas water is more expensive than food. Of course, they are other factors which have influenced the drought, most notably, global warming but then it is still easier to get clean water than stop global warming. Many people do not see the lack of water as a problem but around the world about one in eight people lack access to clean water. 

Every 20 seconds, a child around the world dies from a water-related illness. Human contact with polluted water usually results in one form of disease or bacterial infection. The number of outbreaks of various water-borne and other diseases such as typhoid, cholera and worms may be falling but there are still a lot of cases reported around the country to know that water contamination is a big problem in Kenya. The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns. Water is also important to Kenya as a country because the wildlife needs water to survive yet people do not have access to water at all in some cases.

There are a number of reasons why there is no adequate supply of water in Kenyan and they include:

However, there are a number of ways that this crisis can be overcome. By no means are there any quick fixes to this problem and all solutions are not so effective in the short term but it does reap reward for the long term. Some of these solutions include:

These are just a few of the many solutions that can be pursued to help Kenya fight the current water crisis. There still is time to conquer the battle but everything lies in our hands and only we can shape our future for better or worse against one of the most important issues facing our country.

Sources:

2006 United Nations Human Development Report

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