Nairobi — Desperate for adequate water, home owners in Nairobi are fast turning to shallow wells as an alternative.

Outside the city, farmers are seeking the same alternative for subsistence and commercial purposes, as well as for domestic use. Those in the city could be breaking water rules and regulations by sinking the wells in an urban area, but they say they have been driven by the lack of signs of a water supply reprieve any time soon.

The new trend has gained more currency after last week's Saturday Nation published a story on a Canadian volunteer who is helping to detect where water streams run in farms. According to our story, 86-year-old Lex Lutherford is able to detect where a stream runs, how deep one needs to dig to reach the stream, how many litres of water will flow into the well and whether it will be sustainable.

Mr Lutherford also tells how much water you can get from the well in 24 hours. Since the story was published, there have been overwhelming enquiries on how the volunteer can be reached to help readers to find water in their farms.

Accompanied by some volunteers from his Shallow Wells International Management (SWIM), Lutherford moved into small farms in the outskirts of the city where he detected water streams in at least 20 farms. According to his personal assistant, Mr John Muraguri, digging of wells had already started on the farms by Thursday evening. Most of the streams were found to be between 70 and 80 feet underground.

"We have more than 300 pending requests. We are moving a bit slowly as we do not have means of transport. Again, most of our volunteers are in the rural areas," said Mr Muraguri.

One of the first beneficiaries is Mr George Macharia, a city businessman. He is a tree and ostrich farmer in Nyandarua and Naivasha districts, where he has sunk four wells without success. "Each well is 100 feet deep and cost a total of Sh120,000. Nowadays, I spend Sh1,000 every day on water from the tankers," he said.He has also been buying water for his two-acre plot at Garden Estate.

Mr Muraguri has been unable to do any commercial farming. A borehole quotation he has shows it would cost him Sh2.5 million to sink one. But on Tuesday, at the Garden Estate farm, Lex found a water stream just 70 feet under. With a diameter of three feet, the water will rise to 40 feet and in 24 hours it will flow four times as much as the initial 8,000 litres.

This means that in two days, the well will have 32,000 litres, or 1,600 twenty-litre jerricans. The more the water is drawn, the more it keeps flowing. Mr Muraguri is optimistic that the land will be "an orchard" in the next four months.

At another small farm in Kasarani, Irene Munyui-Githinji has never known peace since her water taps ran dry three months ago. With nine dairy cows and more than 1,000 chicken, the cost of buying water has consumed a big chunk of her farm income.

"For the animals' use only, I part with Sh1,500 every day," she says displaying receipts from a private borehole. Her pick-up alternates delivery of farm produce to Nairobi with carrying water which she buys in Kariobangi, 10 kilometres away. She requires 900 litres daily. But a reliable water stream flows only 70 feet below her one-acre farm. When she digs the well, water will occupy at least 45 feet. In 24 hours, 45,000 litres of water will flow into the well.

"The Saturday Nation story was a godsend; I will rest for once," she said at the site where young men had started sinking a well.