As Kenyans celebrate the political breakthrough over power sharing, a crisis posing a risk to 35,000 people is looming in the north and south east over water scarcity and pressure on grazing pastures.

“Water in shallow wells and pans has dried up and people in over 28 trading centres in Takaba are relying on water delivered in trucks,” Enrico Eminae ActionAid Coordinator in the north east region warns.

“For pastoralist communities, scarcity of water for people signals hunger because livestock, their only source of food and income, are at greater risk,” he warns.

“It also triggers conflict over resources as people from different clans crisscross each others territory in search of pasture and water”, he added.

In Tana River, Ganze, Ijara, Sericho and Modogashe pastoralists are migrating to grazing and water areas that are fast diminishing.

“Animal’s health is deteriorating fast and the failure of long rains in March could trigger a crisis,” warned Eminae.

In Sericho the Ewaso Ngiro flood plains have dried up with the river receding up to about 100Km upstream. Communities have to rely on the shallow wells dug into the now dry riverbed.

In Tana River and Ganze, pastoralists are already migrating with their livestock in search of pasture. It is at such times that conflicts flare up between the farming and livestock communities over grazing and farming areas.

The situation in Takaba is even more fragile as more pastoralists congregate around the town with their livestock in search of water.

Pastoralists are putting pressure on the neighbouring villages of Darwed, Didkuro and Wangaidahan in search of alternative livelihoods.

Notes

• Pastoralists in southern Ethiopia and western Somalia are even more affected and there is danger of them migrating to Kenya causing stress on already strained resources
• ActionAid Kenya commissioned a 200 million litres Takaba Community Water Supply project with capacity to serve 20,000 people following the most severe drought experienced in early 2006.
• The project is under a lot of pressure because everybody around Takaba is now relying on the water supply from the project including emergency water supplies to other areas outside the division.