Let's nurture our water towers

Twenty-five water towers spread across Kenya from the South Coast mangroves in the country’s southern-most tip to Loima Hills in Turkana County. Out of these 25, seven are still undergoing registration but are natural water towers nonetheless.

The Kenya Water Towers Agency, which was established in 2012, oversees and coordinates the sustainable management of these priceless water towers.

As chairperson of this agency, I have been honored to visit many of the water towers and witness firsthand their amazing yet often threatened natural resources.

Although the Mau Forest Complex has been the most spotlighted water tower, the agency’s work deeply touches on all the other 24 water towers.

Through a vibrant partnership with the Department of Resource Survey and Remote Sensing, the agency has established encroachment and settlement in 16 water towers that are spread out in nine counties. The water towers under such siege include Mt Elgon in Bungoma, Marmanet Forest in Laikipia, Lerroghi Forest in Samburu, Hurri Hills in Marsabit, Gwasi Hills in Migori, Endau Mountain in Kitui and Shimba Hills in Kwale.

Kenya Water Towers Agency is a strong believer in community partnerships in addressing the challenges faced by these water towers. This is why it fully supported the establishment of Ogiek Council of Elders among others. Wherever water towers appear, there are adjacent communities that must be their primary protectors. Unfortunately, a variety of factors often complicate conservation efforts.

Intervention measures like relocation of squatters are political landmines that are painfully easier to shelve for another day. However, water towers are not political players but national treasures whose sustenance must always be treated as a matter of urgency and national importance. This is why the agency’s entire board, staff and partners are forging ahead with water tower conservation measures as if there is not tomorrow.

Covering more than one million hectares, Kenya’s 25 water towers are relentless in quenching our thirst, regenerating our rivers, nurturing our land, powering our economy and providing a host of other invaluable ecosystem services. We must, therefore, be equally relentless in conserving these water towers. One of the conservation measures that the agency identified is bamboo growing. Primarily, bamboos will take away pressure from inviolable indigenous forests that water towers consist of.

Bamboo, which can be used for construction, cosmetics and food, earned China Sh491.3 billion as far back as 2004. The agency and partners is, therefore, keen on a partnership with the Asian country among others and has already shared concepts on bamboo development in Kenya.

Indeed, no effort must be spared to conserve the water towers that keep Kenya going.