An acute water shortage has hit Awasi town and its environs in Nyando Sub-county, Kisumu County, following the prolonged dry spell weather condition, rapidly growing population and failing infrastructure.
The mismatch between water supply and demand has forced locals to travel long distances in search for the commodity.
Others are forced to pay inflated prices to access water for basic domestic use, thus, struggling to maintain water-dependent livelihoods.
With key government sponsored water facilities left in disrepair, community members are calling for immediate state intervention to lower costs and sink new boreholes to avert an escalating humanitarian and economic crunch.
The crisis hits hardest during the dry season when traditional water harvesting methods dry up, causing the price of a standard 20-liter jerrican to skyrocket from Sh5 to Sh20.
Derick Odhiambo, a resident of Awasi town who depends on the water for drinking and household use, says the rising prices have placed a heavy financial strain on consumers.
The scarcity has also turned water access into a grueling logistical challenge.
According to John Otieno Jela, a water supplier in the area, he travels a distance of approximately 5 kilometers from Nyang’oma Primary School to Awasi town where he taps his water.
“I pull carts all the way to Nyang’oma Primary School to fetch water which I supply to customers in Awasi. The long and hilly journey and sometimes long queues at the source causes delays leading to constant friction with the desperate clients I serve,” Jela said.
Similarly at Ayucha Primary School, learners trek a distance more than 2 kilometers to the nearest available water source.
Mary Njuguna, who owns a water vending business at a local borehole in Awasi town, explains that while business thrives when the rains stop, the sheer volume of desperate buyers forces her to temporarily shut down operations just to manage the pressure on the pump.
Njuguna stresses that the only viable solution is to replace the broken water pump at the Deputy County Commissioner’s compound which served a large number of people.
“To find a lasting solution, the authorities need to dig an entirely new borehole to match the area’s growing population,” she said during an exclusive interview with KNA.
The residents, however, lamented about a different set of challenges that sets in on the onset of the rainy season which again significantly reduces the demand for the commodity affecting the local water business.
Pauline Awuor Adhiambo, a water vendor at Awasi market, says that the rainy season brings a drastic drop in consumers as households turn to free rainwater harvesting, which severely slashes her steady source of income.
Tonny Otieno, who operates a local car wash, says he uses the weather shifts to remain afloat.
“When it rains, I entirely rely on free surface runoff to wash the vehicles. This helps me to reduce business operation costs,” Otieno says.
However, he laments that when the dry season returns, he is forced to spend over Sh200 per day to buy water to run his business, eating directly into his profits.
Otieno argues that besides drilling new infrastructure, the government must regulate and reduce the basic cost of water to protect micro-enterprises from collapsing during dry spells.
Emma Oginga, Nyando Sub-county water officer says that the County government and its partners have rolled out several interventions to ensure 100 percent access to clean and safe water as well as ensuring community members cover a shorter distance to the water points.
Oginga highlighted that the collaboration has facilitated the drilling of several solar-powered boreholes across Nyando Sub-county contributing to a bigger percentage of clean and safe water coverage in the area.
In addition, she added that through the inauguration of the Kisumu Rural Water and Sanitation Company (Kiriwasko), all rural water schemes will be run and managed under the new entity.
by Robert Ojwang and Rainhard Ayub
