Saving Kenya’s most important river

As the globe marks this year’s World Water Day today, Kenya finds itself in a tight corner. The resource is becoming scarcer by the day, putting livelihoods in peril and fuelling conflict.  

Most major rivers in the country have dried up and only a trickle remains for those that still have water. Seasonal rivers have not had any flow for months.  

The day is celebrated around the world to advocate for sustainable management of freshwater sources.  

But the ongoing climate change-induced drought –the worst in four decades – has hit Kenya’s rivers the hardest. 

Even rivers that have perennially had water have not been spared. Mara, Athi, Tana and Nzoia that flow all year long now have critically reduced water levels.

People living along river courses are now fighting for the resource. It follows that upstream users divert water from the course to their farms, inconveniencing their downstream counterparts. The aggrieved users take up arms.

While such fights, especially those involving flower farms in counties such as Nakuru, are not uncommon, the frequency and severity of the disputes has increased in recent years. Everyone is fighting for survival.

In Laikipia County, residents have been on a collision path with large-scale farmers over water after the latter diverted rivers to their own farms at the expense of other users downstream.

Last month, the Water Resources Authority imposed a temporary ban on irrigation to allow users at all points of a river to benefit from uninterrupted flow at this time of biting drought. 

As the population grows and farmlands decrease across many parts of the country, people are moving closer to wetlands, disrupting the critical bodies.

Along rivers that feed Lake Naivasha, for instance, humans have invaded riparian areas for cultivation and settlement. Others have diverted the course of rivers Malewa, Gilgil and Karati, starving the lake of water.

Now experts warn that low water volumes will result in rising salinity in the freshwater body, affecting fish and fishing, which support the livelihoods of hundreds of communities around the lake.  

But amid this distress and conflict are stories of hope for a better future. A future with sufficient water for everyone.

Various interventions —  public, private and communal — have been initiated to conserve water sources, with mixed results. 

When it was established in 2015, the Upper Tana Nairobi Water Fund sought to work with farmers at river catchment areas to promote conservation of the water resource. 

The fund was set up by Nature Conservancy, a global environmental organisation that works to tackle biodiversity loss that is accelerated by climate change. It is the first-ever water fund on the continent. 

"Our principle is that those at the tap (consumers) should help those at the top (upstream) in conservation of the water. Our role is to connect these two groups of people,’’ says Eddy Njoroge, the president of the fund. 

Besides the intermediary role, the $5 million (Sh650 million) fund also promotes sustainable farming methods among farmers ‘‘by encouraging introduction of the right types of crops especially in riparian areas.’’

‘‘We encourage drip irrigation so that only enough water is used for farming. We also teach them about methods of harvesting water for use throughout the year,’’ Njoroge adds. 

Eight years later, the fund has enlisted 300,000 smallholder farmers in Nyeri, Nyandarua, Murang’a and Laikipia counties. These farm in an area of about one million hectares.

One of the farmers is Esther Wandia from Murang’a County. For this and other farmers, finding alternative sources of water has been the saviour. Wandia harvests and stores rainwater, to reduce the stress on rivers in her county. 

"I have an underground water pan that can store up to 50,000 litres of water. When it rains, the water collects in the pan. This allows me to farm throughout the year,’’ Wandia tells Heathy Nation. 

The farmer has three water tanks for storing water for her domestic use. ‘‘I have a kitchen garden that is ever green. This saves me on expenses because I do not buy vegetables.’’

She also practices agroforestry. ‘‘I grow and sell tree seedlings. My nurseries do not lack water even during the hot season. The water pan stores enough for all seasons. It has never dried up,’’ says Wandia, who is certified by Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service.

But even for farmers like her, highly irregular rainfall patterns are posing a new threat to her farming activities. ‘‘The pan collects rain water during the wet season. In the past few years, the rains have not been consistent. When it rains, the pan does not collect to capacity.’’

Wandia laments that her pan was nearly running out of water after this year’s long rains delayed. After months of drought, most parts of the country have been receiving rainfall since last week. For many years, the long rains would traditionally begin between late February and early March and go on until May. 

In recent seasons, however, this rainy period has become harder to predict, with the onset of the rains coming much later. When it finally arrives, rainfall occurs for a shorter period, disrupting farming seasons.

Whereas natural causes have affected river discharge, human activity is also to blame for the situation. In most counties across the country, farmers have been planting fast maturing tree varieties such as the eucalyptus along rivers, threatening the water bodies.

With crop seasons failing in recent years, tree growing has become the alternative livelihood for families. 

"I have planted bamboo along the river bank on my farm. I talk to my neighbours to do the same. Some agree and some refuse,’’ Wandia says. 

Persuading locals to abandon eucalyptus for other tree varieties is not easy owing largely to lack of guidelines on what tree species to plant in certain environments. 

"Most of the farmers in my area opt for other types of trees out of goodwill. We just agree as farmers in a locale to eliminate the variety from our farms. After all, everyone benefits when the river continues to flow,’’ Wandia notes. 

Those who plant tree species other than the eucalyptus are incentivised by the Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund through provision of seedlings for grafted avocado. The fund says the desire is to facilitate the farmers to cash in on the lucrative crop. 

But why is it necessary to conserve waters of the Tana?

River Tana is the largest and longest river in Kenya, traversing half the country in its 1,000 kilometre dance from the eastern slopes of Mount Kenya and Aberdare Ranges to the Indian Ocean.

Government statistics indicate that 95 per cent of all water consumed in Nairobi comes from the river.

Nairobi has a daily consumption rate of 810 million litres. Of this, only 550 million litres are supplied, owing to absence of water infrastructure. This leaves the city with a daily shortfall of 26o million litres.

It is by exploiting this shortage that city water cartels thrive, fleecing desperate consumers in the process. 

While the government has invested nearly Sh15 billions for expansion of water works in the city and its environs since 2018, frequent shortages remain widespread. 

"We are using nature-based solutions to filter the water that comes to Nairobi. This will improve not only the quantity but also the quality of the water for human use,’’ Njoroge says. 

For farmers who conserve River Tana upstream, improved crop yields and productivity throughout the year is the reward. 

"In many ways, this reduces competition among farmers for the river water since everyone has enough to use. The reduces the stress on the water bodies,’’ Njoroge adds. 

The biggest headache, though, is to persuade farmers not to encroach riparian areas. ‘‘We try to encourage them to not impact the ecosystems so much. Whenever they step back, the resources are able to recover with time,’’ he says. 

Meanwhile, plans are underway for Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund to register a carbon project, proceeds of which will go to supporting farmers in Mount Kenya region. 

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