Pastoralist women appeal for permanent solution to water crisis

Pastoralist women in remote areas in Isiolo County continue to face increasing water security risks due to the growing demand for the commodity, attributed to the increasing population in the region. Stakeholders also cite the effects of Climate Change as a key contributing factor to water shortage and demand more measures to curb the menace as the world commemorates Water Day. 

With the primary responsibility of fetching water and firewood, women and girls spend most of their time carrying jerricans on top of their heads in search of water which in most cases is hard to come by. Some of them, strap babies on their backs as they walk for an average of six kilometres to water sources, which exposes them to the risk of being attacked by bandits and wildlife.

The situation is worse for women and girls from families owning large herds of livestock as they bear the extra burden of fetching water to feed hundreds of animals.

Chari, Cherab, Sericho, Garbatulla, Ngaremara and Kinna are among the most affected wards. In Modogashe along the Isiolo-Garissa border, women and girls are forced to walk for more than five kilometres to Burkuke shallow well and have to leave their homes as early as 7 am to return before dusk. 

It is, therefore, common to spot women driving donkey carts loaded with tens of 20-litre water jerricans.

One of the area residents, Halima Adan, says they are accustomed to rationing water due to scarcity and that every drop is used sparingly as most of them cannot purchase the commodity. 

"We lost dozens of livestock to the recent drought threatening our livelihoods. Three meals a day is unheard of here," she told the Eastleigh Voice. 

Those who can't walk to the shallow well, she says, are forced to rely on water ferried from the neighbouring Garissa County which is provided once a week.

"Vendors have taken advantage of the situation to sell 20-litre water jerrican from as high as Sh100 which many of us cannot afford," she laments. 

When water levels dip at the shallow well, residents are forced to walk an extra three kilometres to Jaju to access the commodity. With several of the water sources shared by humans and livestock, contamination by the animals remains rife exposing residents to the risk of waterborne diseases.

The exacerbating issue has forced residents to express disappointment with the current leadership, accusing them of not addressing the perennial water crisis in the area. Isiolo Governor Abdi Ibrahim Guyo's administration is aware of the grievances raised, as it recently assured the residents that a borehole sunk in Kone located about 30 kilometres away, would supply water to the area. 

Isiolo Governor Abdi Ibrahim Guyo when appeared before thr Senate Finance and Budget Appropriations Committee on February 23, 2024. (Photo: Isiolo County Government)

"We want the process expedited because water is everything to us. Let them not bring us relief food when drought strikes but sink us boreholes for increased water coverage," Fardosa Mohamed, another resident, however, questioned the promises issued by the administration. 

Several school-going girls in the area are reported to have dropped out of classes and were married off as their families sought to evade economic woes. A teacher at one of the schools told the Eastleigh Voice that many girls occasionally skip lessons as they help their parents with some domestic chores.

"Cases of them leaving school early to help their mothers at home are rampant. A number have been married off in far areas making it hard for us to track them," a local elder disclosed. 

The drying of River Ewaso Nyiro, the only river in arid Northern Kenya, also compounded the woes for women in the rural wards. At Archers Post Bridge, water levels at the once impassable river have drastically reduced leaving sand and mud blanket covering bare land. Shirtless men armed with shovels load sand from the river bed into waiting trucks as some Morans bathe and children swim on the lower side.

Encroachment of riparian lands and drying of aquifers due to unregulated human activities such as over-abstraction upstream, illegal water connections for agricultural use, and pollution by industries along the basin continue to endanger the ecosystem. The activities continue to deprive downstream residents of the vital resource forcing them to move upstream which could create tension among communities.

More than five million Kenyans rely on the river, whose sources are Mt Kenya and Aberdare Ranges, as it snakes through seven counties before draining into the Lorian swamp. Saving the drying tributaries of Ewaso Nyiro in Isiolo and Laikipia, stakeholders say, could help avert water crises and conflicts.

Better access to drinking water

Recent data issued by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) show that 72 per cent of the household population in Isiolo have access to at least basic drinking water service against the national 68 per cent. An estimated 15 million Kenyans, 32 per cent of Kenya's population, have no access to clean and safe water.

The improved access to water in Isiolo was attributed to collaboration between the county government and various development partners such as USAID-Nawiri, Caritas Isiolo, Merti Integrated Development Programme (MID-P) and World Vision.

The county government has in the last year sunk and rehabilitated 17 boreholes in partnership with some development partners even though some of the boreholes are yet to be equipped. At Skuma village in Ngaremara, women are increasingly embracing agriculture thanks to the recent rehabilitation of a local borehole by the Merti Integrated Development Programme (MID-P) in partnership with the German Federal Foreign Office (Oxfam) and the county government.

Gladys Ewoi is among the residents who have adopted kitchen gardens at their homes to enhance food security through access to nutritious farm products. She says increased water access had relieved them from walking for several kilometres in search of water.

Two other boreholes at Amarti Juu and Daaba by Catholic Relief Services and World Vision have also reduced the burden on women, enabling some to irrigate their small farms at some fee. A Sh5.4 million solar-powered water borehole at Amarti Juu is also benefiting more than 500 households.

The project, which was funded by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and implemented by Caritas Isiolo, sought to build communities' resilience to climatic shocks and provide clean and safe water for domestic and livestock use.

The area is among those that have been grappling with rising cases of waterborne diseases and diarrhoea among children due to the consumption of untreated water.

A pastoralist with his livestock at a water point in Isiolo. (Photo: Siegfried Modola/IRIN/TNH)