Water Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa. He says Sh758 million will be used to supply water in drought-stricken counties. [Photo: The Standard]Water and Irrigation CS Eugene Wamalwa has said that the government will spend Sh758 million to supply water to more than one million people in 23 drought-stricken counties.Wamalwa has said that the cash will be spent on tankers and tanks and in the rehabilitation of boreholes. He said that Sh100 million has been set aside for trucking clean water to residents for their domestic use."The main aim of sending these water tankers to these counties is to enhance access to clean water for domestic use. The length of this exercise will depend on whether there will be rains by December," Wamalwa said as quoted by the StarAccording to the Star, KDF and NYS will supply the water while tankers from county governments and various state agencies will be used to ferry the water to villages where residents are severely affected. The water will be bought from water companies and some fetched from wells and boreholes.Wamalwa said the National Disaster Management Unit has identified eight counties which are severely affected, where Kajiado which is the most affected, starting to receive its emergency water supply on Friday.Other counties worst hit by the drought include Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Turkana, Samburu, West Pokot, Kitui and Kilifi. They will also start receiving water supplies on Friday.Wamalwa was speaking in Nairobi on Monday during the flagging off of 20 KDF and three NYS water tankers that will be used to distribute water,said NDMU had classified the counties based on the urgency of their needs to minimise the impact of the drought on communities and livestock.

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