Nairobi — Stakeholders have been urged to embrace Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to support the government's efforts in alleviating the country's water scarcity by constructing water reservoirs.
National Water Resources Director Andrew Kinyua emphasized the high cost of building water infrastructure and called for PPPs to help fund these essential projects. "We are turning to Public-Private Partnerships. This model allows us to involve private sector players, international partners, NGOs, and donors in developing crucial water infrastructure," said Kinyua.
Kinyua explained that a nation is classified as water-scarce if it falls below the threshold of 1,000 cubic meters of renewable freshwater per capita annually. He added that, despite the sensitivity of PPPs in the country, the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Irrigation remains optimistic about their potential to alleviate the water crisis.
Kenya's participation in the voluntary Threshold Challenge, which emerged from the 2023 United Nations Water Week in New York, further highlights the country's commitment to improving water resources. "Each participating country, including ours, must set its own targets for wetland and river recovery," Kinyua said. The initiative, aligned with the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) on clean water and sanitation, aims to recover 800,000 hectares of wetlands and restore 352,000 kilometers of rivers globally.
"We must demonstrate that we have recovered specific wetlands or restored particular stretches of rivers, with clear data on the area and volume restored," he added.
Chrispin Owaga, Country Director of Evidence Action Kenya, echoed Kinyua's sentiments during a seminar on the Safe Water Now Program in Nairobi. He reiterated the organization's commitment to working closely with county governments to ensure the program reaches all citizens. County representatives, particularly from Siaya, praised the program's impact on improving sanitation through chlorination.
Evidence Action, a global non-profit, leverages rigorous evidence to scale cost-effective interventions. Their Safe Water Now Program, operational in Kenya since 2012, directly impacts 2.3 million people across the country.
