County weighs use of technology to harvest and desalinate water

The Turkana County government has opted to build water harvesting infrastructure to end acute shortage of the commodity in the region.

The region has aquifers discovered almost 10 years ago. They can serve the county for more than seven decades, but this idea had not been exploited as a result of salinity of the water.

Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok (pictured), after a meeting with Kenya Water Sector Trust Fund officials, yesterday said addressing salinity of the water and harvesting surface runoff would be key to ensuring adequate supply of the commodity.

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“A common problem across Turkana is that when you drill boreholes you find water but most have high salinity levels. As stakeholders, we need to find cheaper technology that uses solar energy to desalinate water,” he said.

The governor said the region received erratic rainfall and the surface runoff was enough to fill dams, which would act as reservoirs.

“To solve water needs for the county, government and partners have to jointly develop a plan to desalinate water in Lotikipi aquifer and boreholes with high fluorite levels,” Mr Nanok said.

Water from Napuu aquifer is, however, fresh.

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