Over 18,000 residents of Samburu west sub county and their 35,000 livestock will now have access to clean water after the Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA) sunk two boreholes as part of the national government’s drought mitigation program.
Speaking during the commissioning of the two boreholes, KVDA Managing Director (MD) Sammy Naporos said that the initiative was part of long term measures to alleviate acute water shortage in the area.
He noted that the boreholes which will pump water via solar power has the capacity to pump 30,000 liters of the commodity per hour at Nontoto Arus village, while the other one at Garma village will pump 9,000 litres per hour, thus providing water to nearby schools and residents.
‘Samburu is one of the counties with the lowest access to water in Kenya and these water projects will boost food security through creation of kitchen gardens, improve access to education and reduce conflict with neighboring communities,’ he said.
Naporos added that through KVDA, the nation
al government has pumped Sh130 million towards 12 water projects in Samburu West and Samburu North sub counties.
‘Two projects are complete, while another two are ongoing and we are in the process of tendering the remaining eight to be completed by June 2024,’ he said.
At the same time, the MD encouraged the residents to sustain the projects through the already formed borehole committees and ensure water flows for years to come.
Pamela Lekuku, a resident of Nontoto Arus village welcomed the projects saying that life has been made easy for the women who used to travel for miles to fetch one jerry can of water.
‘We used to travel for over 20 kilometers under the scorching sun just to come back with 20 litres of water which only lasted for two days, now we have time for other household chores including vegetable farming due to the availability of water,’ an elated Lekuku said.
Also in attendance during the commissioning of the Garma borehole was Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda, KVDA Chairman Mark Chesergon
among other KVDA board of management members.
Source: Kenya News Agency