Ethiopia, Oromiya Region: great trek for water

For many people, access to water is a mere turn of the tap away; for Abdha Aso, a 20-year-old mother of five, it involves a four-hour round trip to a muddy pond. Only a year ago, she could reach a nearby stream in 20 minutes but it has since dried up.

The rains, which usually fall twice a year – between October and November and February and May – in the Borena zone in southern Ethiopia failed last year and this.

IRIN accompanied Abdha on one of her daily journeys. Read the full story

Ethiopian officials said they were concerned about the quality of water being consumed by the people in the pastoral areas and have provided village officials with water purification chemicals. But resources are limited and not all villages would have had access. During the peak of the drought the government deployed 210 water trucks in Oromiya.

But the escalating price of trucking water, rapidly shrinking water sources and poor roads have affected services, said the government in its Revised Humanitarian Requirements Document.

In the first half of 2011, about 50 cases of acute watery diarrhoea were reported in parts of Oromiya, according to the document. Concerns about a major outbreak because of inadequate supplies of safe water and poor hygiene remain.

Source: IRIN, 29 Jul 2011

Eastern Africa drought: seven million people in need of WASH services

Seven million people, including over 700,000 refugees are in need of waster, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services according to a United Nations report of 15 July 2011.

The drought affecting Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti is being called the worst in 50 years. UN agencies have asked for US$ 1.6 billion to pay for essential programmes in the Horn of Africa, but have only received half that amount so far.

Water trucking is still needed in the driest areas as natural water points failed to refill sufficiently. Two million people have been given better access to safe drinking water so far in 2011.

Paradoxically, some areas in Ethiopia and Somalia are expected to receive above-normal rainfall in the June to September period. This is likely to increase the risk of flooding and subsequent outbreaks of waterborne diseases.

Kenya: Mombasa Water Vendors Warned

Selling water at more than Sh2 per 20 litre jerrycan will attract a heavy punishment including withdrawal of licences, water vendors have been warned.

Mombasa Water and Sewerage Company managing director Moses Kinya said water vendors should not take advantage of the shortage in Mombasa and other parts of the region to oppress customers by overcharging them. “This is a measure we have taken after receiving reports that some of the water vendors are overcharging their customers,” said Kinya.

Water vendors in Bamburi, Mtopanga and Kisauni are charging as much as Sh7 per 20 litre jerrycan. Kinya said they have put in place other strict rules in order to ensure health safety.

The MWSC boss said they will not issue a license to water kiosks that are less than 100 metres apart. He also cautioned them that unhygienic premises will attract a heavy fine in addition to withdrawal of their license. “They must ensure that the area they sell water from is hygienically maintained and that the place is always drained and dry,” said Kinya.

The vendors usually buy water from the company at cheaper rates. After withdrawal of the licences, the vendors will continue getting water but they will be charged at normal domestic rates.

The vendors will also be required to display the Sh2 price, the kiosk number and the metre number. “Failure to do this will also result in the withdrawal of licenses,” said Kinya.

Source: Brian Otieno, Nairobi Star / allAfrica.com, 3 March 2011

Kenya: Water Crisis in Mwingi East District

A government drought monitoring team came face to face with the vagaries of the current drought when it visited starving and thirsty residents of Sosoma village in Mwingi East district.

During the Tuesday visit, the team from the National Crisis Centre found residents and their livestock milling around a dried-up Sosoma borehole.

The team led by Ruth Gathii, who is also the head of the Arid Lands Drought Management Project in the Ministry of Northern Kenya found the residents trying to pump water from the dry borehole. They had been doing it for days with no success.

The residents said since the borehole had stopped yielding water due to low underground water recharge, they had camped there hoping the water would rise to the pumping level.

The team distributed the few bottles of mineral water they had to the thirsty residents. “We found very old people and even pregnant women who begged us to give them the little water we had. We had to distribute all the bottled water we had as they appeared very desperate,” said a member of the team.

Gathii directed officials in the ministry to start supplying water to the parched residents. She further directed the officials to get water bowsers to deliver water to Sosoma primary school.

About 4,000 residents and 30,000 livestock have been left without water after the Sosoma borehole dried up. They are now relying on water supplied by the bowsers.

The situation has been worsened by pastoralists from the neighbouring Tana River district who are camping at the Sosoma area with more than 1,000 camels hoping to get water from the dry borehole.

Source: Musembi Nzengu, Nairobi Star / allAfrica.com, 3 March 2011

Kenya: Ministry seeks help over drought crisis

The Ministry of Education has called for a more coordinated approach in mitigating drought and water shortage in arid and semi arid areas to stop children from dropping out of school.

Education secretary George Godia told an inter-ministerial meeting of permanent secretaries that over 70 per cent of schools in drought-stricken areas are witnessing huge school drop-outs as children join their families in search of food and water.

Source:Ramadhan Rajab, Nairobi Star /allAfrica.com, 22 February 2011

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Kenya: thirsty eucalyptus trees get the chop

Farmers in central Kenya are cutting down water-hungry eucalyptus tree species growing near water sources as a government directive aiming to save water takes effect. Environment minister, John Michuki, issued the directive three months ago in an attempt to lessen the impact of the drought that is ravaging the country.

Eucalyptus has been popular with farmers because it grows fast and provides ample stocks of timber and firewood. But it is also a danger to water supplies (see Strategic tree planting could save water in dry areas).

[...] Now, eucalyptus trees growing less than 30 metres from rivers, streams, wells and other water sources are being cut down. Already, farmers in central Kenya have felled virtually all trees growing near water sources.

James Gitonga, a senior officer at the Kenya Forest Service, says that eucalyptus trees [...] ” have greatly contributed to depletion of water, particularly during the current drought.”

James Gathage, a forestry consultant, says “Farmers should be encouraged to plant more Grevillea [...] an agroforestry tree with many commercial benefits, including timber, firewood and fodder.”

Source: Maina Waruru, SciDev.net, 30 Sep 2009

Rwanda: Water rationing warning as drought bites

Electrogaz, Rwanda’s public utility, is considering water rationing due to shortages caused by a prolonged drought in parts of the country, officials said. [The] country was now facing a deficit of up to 22,000 cubic metres of water every day and had no alternative until supplies had been boosted. [Starting in July rationing tests will be conducted] across major towns in the country. [E]fforts were under way to increase water production across the densely populated country of nine million people.

Environmental specialists blame the drought on climate change, with erratic rainfall and frequent dry spells combining to increase water shortages.

[R]ationing would ensure that at least the whole country received some water for limited hours daily, to avoid situations where some areas went without water for weeks.

Godie Kwizera, a resident of Gatuna area near the border with Uganda, said water shortages had forced some residents to resort to unsafe water sources such as streams. ”Water goes off for around five days and comes for a few hours before disappearing again; maybe rationing will help us a bit,” Kwizera told IRIN on 2 July.

Experts say population pressure has led to a rapid degradation of the wetlands and forests over the past two decades, making the population prone to hazards of climate change. It is estimated that in the past two decades, Rwanda has lost about 60 percent of its forest cover.

In June, Electrogaz started talks with farmers around the Mulindi wetland, the main source of water for up to a million Kigali residents, on how to share water. The wetland is also the main source of irrigation water for local farmers.

As the drought bites, local residents have increased the amount of water used to irrigate their crops, leaving little water for town dwellers. ”It is like a double jeopardy: reduced water poses a threat to the crops in the valley just like it does to town residents, but most importantly, the country could be hit by food shortages,” Moses Twahirwa, an economist in Kigali, said.

In 2008, a Canada-based firm, Ecosystem Restoration Associates, signed a US$17 million deal with the Rwandan government to implement forestation and reforestation projects in a bid to help the country replace its forest cover and address the impact of climate change.

Source: IRIN, 03 Jul 2009

Eritrea: water on their minds

Water for daily use [in Rahaita, one of the most southerly villages on Eritrea's Red Sea coast] is pumped out of wells by diesel-powered generators, but Eritrea imports all its fuel, making diesel an expensive option. A few years ago the government helped the village set up a solar-powered generator, “But there are days when the clouds cover the sun,” said [village administrator Doran Ali] Osman.

More help is at hand. Rahaita is one of seven villages in the region covered by the Eritrea Wind Energy Application pilot project – funded by the Global Environment Facility and the UN Development Programme – and will be electrified by the end of 2009.

A rapid assessment of water sources by the government’s Water Resource Department found that 58 percent of households in rural areas have access to safe drinking water. Climate change projections by the Eritrean government [predict that] temperatures could soar by more than 4 degrees Celsius by 2050, [leading to] longer and more intense [droughts].

Rainfall is inadequate and underground resources are declining [and] becoming salty. [...] Almost 70 percent of the semi-arid land is affected by drought, including the highlands, which usually enjoy higher rainfall.

Villagers [are] planning communal gardens to grow and sell vegetables to supplement incomes.

Water is everything

“Water is everything to us,” said Mogos Weldeyohannes, Director General of the Department of Environment. “We spend more than half our budget on conserving water.” This could not be verified, as data are hard to come by in a country still recovering from a 30-year war of independence and later border conflicts with Ethiopia.

“[We] faced one of the worst droughts since independence [in 1993] last year [2008]. Crops failed. We are determined that rainwater has to be harvested to be used,” he said. [T]he capital, Asmara, [only gets] running water on three days out of every ten.

Eritrea has built scores of small dams in the past three decades and is planning 200 more, as well as diversion structures to harvest and store water. [...] Gahtelai, a village in the highlands in the Northern Red Sea Region, is harvesting water from fog: “fog collectors” [harvest] about 14 litres to 20 litres of water per square metre [...] every day and fed into a reservoir to irrigate vegetable gardens.

Source: IRIN, 15 Jun 2009

Somalia: “Once the camels start dying, people are not far behind”

Hundreds of people are at risk in Somalia’s central region of Mudug, where a severe drought has caused an acute shortage of water, with local leaders appealing for urgent help. “Some 42,940 sheep and goats have already died and many families have moved to urban areas in search of help,” Mursal Hashi Shirwa, commissioner for social affairs of Gal-Mudug state, a self-declared autonomous region, said. He said people would soon die if help did not arrive on time as hundreds of families were facing a bleak future after losing their livestock.

[...] “Camels are the last animals to die and once they start dying, it is only a matter of time before people start dying,” said [Yassin Mohamed Ganni, a senior elder from the area]. He said urgent aid was needed to help stave off more animal deaths as livestock-keeping was the economic mainstay of the population.

[...] Like most of central Somalia, the area has had no rain in the past two years and water points and boreholes have either dried up or are in disrepair, said Ibrahim Ilmi Ahmed, of the Somali Community Development Organization (SCDO), a local NGO that has organised water-trucks for the affected populations. [...] There were, however, areas “we have not been able to access largely due to distance and lack of funds”, he added.

Source: IRIN, 10 Mar 2009

Somalia: water shortages drive hundreds of families from their homes

Thousands of people in Somalia’s south-western Gedo region could starve after acute shortages of water and food, local officials and elders said, appealing for urgent help.

[...] Ahmed Mohamed Burkuus, district commissioner of Bulo Hawo, said the drought was very severe and “will likely claim many lives if intervention does not arrive soon”.

He said the worst-affected areas were in the western part of Gedo region near the Kenyan border. Many wells have dried up, forcing people to move “anywhere where they think they will find something”. [...] “Bulo Hawo was already hosting displaced from Mogadishu and now we have more than 1,000 drought-displaced. We really cannot cope and need help now.”

Read more: IRIN, 19 Feb 2009