Ndakaini Dam showing low levels earlier this year [Photo/kenyatalk.com]
Last time I checked, Nairobi was said to have close to 4 million residents during the day. That number is reduced to half by nighttime as those who live outside the county, travel home from work.
The exact number of Nairobi residents is not necessary to see that such a large population needs a constant supply of water.
Contrary to demand, Nairobi Water has been forced to ration the supply of water to the city due to the reduction of levels at Ndakaini dam. Reason being that the rains have not been plentiful this year…but we can solve all our water woes!
The first approach to solving the water shortage in Nairobi is by monitoring the weather patterns in the country and Africa in general. Yes, there is a pattern to the so called dry seasons in Kenya as I shall elaborate.
My grandmother is a seasoned farmer in the Kiambu area. She has kept track of every dry season Kenya has had in the past and knows when to plant and when to stay put. If we were more observant like her, we’d note down the dry seasons of 1984, 1992, 2000, 2008 and now 2017.
If we were to recognize patterns, we would then note that there is dry season every 7 to 10 years.
With such information, we would be able to plan ahead by having stocks of grain, ample water collected in dams, recycling used water and monitoring our car washing habits.
A second approach to curbing the water shortage in the county is by harvesting rain water in Nairobi. There is a rumour that there is a by-law that prevents Nairobi residents from harvesting rain water from their roofs. This is pure ludicrous. If there exists such a law, it should be revoked.
We should also have a way of harvesting the storm water that ends up in Ruai Treatment works whenever it rains like in the past few weeks.
One way would be by treating the said water and pumping it back to manufacturing industries in Industrial area. This water shall be used for manufacturing purposes such as cooling machines, testing pipelines, cleaning etc…but not for food processing. We all know that there are tonnes of toxic chemicals in that storm water. The only means of treatment that can guarantee purity of the water is distillation. Such a process would not be economical in terms of energy used to boil the water.
A third way to solving the water issue is what Nairobi Water and Athi Water Service Board are doing by building the Muranga collector tunnel. They are also building another treatment works in Thika, digging boreholes, reducing leaks in their old distribution pipes and sensitizing residents on the need for economic water use.
A fourth and final approach would be to plant more trees throughout the country. Let us admit it. We love cutting down trees. Wangari Maathai kept reminding us that we need to be responsible and plant more trees. West Africa is slowly reclaiming the desert by planting drought resistant trees. They are slowly winning the war against desertification and retaining their water catchment areas.
You can find out more on this project by googling ‘The Green Wall.’