It is now 26 years since the UN selected March 22 as World Water day, meant for everyone around the globe to come together for international conversations about safeguarding the world most valuable resource. Presently more than half a million people live without access to clean water yet the average water use ranges from 200-300 liters a person a day. Several pollutants continue to threaten water systems worldwide.
In Africa the average distance walked by women in order to fetch water is 6 Kilometers, accompanied by their daughters who therefore miss the chance to go to school and are exposed to other risks i.e health, sexual assault etc. In order to address a breath of water related challenges, the publics both in developed and developing nations must unite for a common goal. With a population of approximately 45 million, according to the United Nations Kenya is among the struggling populations. For years water access has been an issue since, yet as a country we depend heavily on this resource not only for drinking, but for agriculture.
With the biting food insecurity in the country, proper conversations on water are vital. This is because a small percentage of Kenya’s land is optimal for agriculture and the year round climate is predominately arid. Kenya’s agricultural production is largely dependent on rains yet the food demand has outstripped the production worse even the experiences on climate change is not favorable as well. Therefore there is need for sustainable water management and conservation which will also augment expansion of irrigated production. Irrigation is critical for crop production, without this increasing agricultural output becomes an empty dream and stabilizing food production will be impossible.
It is evident anywhere in the world that any nation’s first response to water needs is the costly works such as construction of dams. While the fist initiative should be taking good care of ecological infrastructure, wetlands and water catchment areas. Through this we can also end up reducing costs of other associated infrastructure like dams, bridges, pipes and other water reservoirs which can be destroyed by flooding or sedimentation. Protecting wetlands and catchments areas regulate how water translates from rain to water flow all the way to the irrigated land. We must come together and be a generation that ends global water crisis.
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