Nairobi — Water scarcity is a crisis facing many households and more so in the rural areas which lack access to piped water and worse still, have no access to water bodies like dams and lakes to sustain their needs.
One such village in Eburu Mbaruk ward, in Gilgil Constituency, has constantly faced water shortage for years prompting them to tap geothermal water.
Eburu Mbaruk lies within Rift Valley which is prone to volcanic and tectonic activity like landslides making it impossible to dig wells and dams due to the loose soil.
The situation was not all hopeless for them as the same volcanic activities that have made it impossible to dig wells for them have gifted them the natural resource of hot springs, and geysers.
Julius Malit, a resident says that since the 1970s, the Households in Eburu Village decided to set out places with geysers and hot springs as community land to enable local locals tap steam from the ground and access water.
"In our surroundings, there is no river or steam. The nearest river is in Narok County which is kilometers apart. Our parents decide to use the brains behind Changaa (traditional beer) brewing to tap steam water," Malit said.
The residents unconventionally trap the steam by digging up to five feet below the surface and fixing a pipe to the narrow vents through which the steam escapes from the hot earth.
The pipe leads the steam to an enormous drum raised above the ground where it condenses into hot water. The status of the metallic pipes fitted in the pipe exposes how long the residents have been using the technology.
Emily Nyakio who was raised in Eburu Village taps water for household use in one of the geysers which she says has alleviated the burden of walking for kilometers to access water.
"I have stayed in Eburu for 26 years and all along we have used this water which has been helpful because its steam water. It doesn't have any contamination and its all season," said Nyakio.
Schools within the region have been struggling with access to water prompting them to tap on geysers to ensure students don't walk for kilometers in search of water.
Camp Brethren Christian School is lucky to have land which has steam water that is sustainable as is accessible as rainwater has proved to be unsustainable due to changing weather patterns.
The school has invested in modified condensers and metallic pipes to tap and liquefy the steam water which is then pumped to various tanks within the institutions.
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The innovation has enabled the school to alleviate the problem of water scarcity and they have gone a little further to engage in farming as the water is all year round.
At Eburu Village, however, the amount of water collected depends on weather patterns during dry seasons the volume of steam reduces reducing the water target but during the rainy season, the water is in plenty.
"When it's too hot, we face water scarcity issues because the water derived from steam is not enough. When it's too hot, the steam reduces and thus creates a water shortage," said Nyakio.
The increasing human population has however made it unsustainable for the geysers to quench the thirst of the locals due to the high demand.
"The individuals who sub divided this land were 150.Right now we are over 5,000 people and due to population growth, we have began to see the scarcity of this invention. That's the problem we are grappling with currently," Malit noted.
The plea by the locals is for both the national and county government to employ advanced technology to increase the amount of steam condensing in the tanks.
"We drill using the archaic methods of using hoes to drill the geysers. If technology can be tapped to enable efficient drilling that will tap more steam from underground and high capacity condensers it will help us a lot as a community," said Malit.
