Hundreds of residents from Siaya, Busia and Kisumu counties have in the last one year benefitted from a Sh 14 million projects for water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH).
This is from an NGO known as Kenya Water and Health Organisation (KWAHO) whose executive director Catherine Mwango says they identified three Community Based Organisations (CBOs) from each of the three counties which benefited from the project.
Mwango adds that they instituted the programme on realising that most communities living along the lake have no access to clean water despite the fact that they live along the lake.
She said the project enabled the CBOs to initiate simple water projects like hand dug boreholes and even rain water harvesting to help them access clean water.
Mwango says apart from clean water, most people living along the lake had the tendency of not using toilets instead defecating openly in the bush. Speaking in Kisumu during a meeting organised by their donor known us Water Supply and Sanitation Collaboration Council (WSSCC) based in Geneva, Mwango said they have encouraged the communities to put up toilets.
She announced that the one year project had enabled the community members to construct toilets adding that so far over 299 toilets have been put up.
Mwango says such toilets will help save the community from getting infections associated with dirty water as a result of open defecation.
“Even though the one year period for the projects had elapsed, we will train community members to ensure there is proper sustainability,” she said.