Nasra prefers solar-powered borehole to crocodile-infested river for fetching water
Providing access to clean and safe water in Garissa County
Nasra Garane Farah wears a burnt orange Somali style ‘jilbab’ as she rolls her battered jerry can across the dusty track. She is heading to the water kiosk in Daley village, Garissa County. Kicking up dust and avoiding acacia thorns, the mum-of-four only has to walk five minutes to reach her destination.
“In the past, we had to fetch water from the river. It took us half an hour to walk there” says Nasra. “When we were using the river water, the children would get sick. Diarrhoea... They would vomit and a lot of other illnesses developed.”
Disease is only the first of many problems, when it comes to using the river water, explains Osman Aden Abdi, a Deputy Director at the Garissa County Water Department. “You can get cholera and other complicated diseases… and there are very dangerous animals within the water - the crocodiles. At one point, there were cases where Daley had lost two girls.”
The area surrounding the village is desert, and the community is facing a fifth consecutive failed rainy season. Skeletons of cattle litter the ground, mixed with dung from the cows and goats which are still holding on to life.
Nasra fills her can with 20 litres of clean, safe water and rolls it easily back home. “When I fetched water by the river, I would worry about my children’s safety” she recalls. “But now that the water is accessible, I no longer worry about my children. I just tell them to wait and play as I go to fetch water.”
The water kiosk operator, Aden Ahmed Dirie, serves the community at the water kiosk and charges just 5 Kenyan shillings per jerry can. The price has halved since the drought, in order to support people. He himself lost all his cattle to the drought, before the community asked him to take care of the water kiosk. “The water is good. It is safe and it keeps us healthy” says Aden.
During the Tana River floods of 2019/2020, water boreholes were destroyed as the river changed its course. This left communities with no reliable and safe water source. Depending on raw water from the river has exposed people – and especially children - to waterborne diseases, as well as attacks by the crocodiles and hippopotamuses which inhabit the river.
The Water Users Association (WUAS) - together with the Garissa County Department of Water Services and UNICEF - helped establish a solar-powered borehole connected to a network of pipelines that serve a health dispensary, a primary school and many water kiosks, as well as household tap water.
Nasra reflects on the changing rain patterns in Garissa. “We used to get sufficient rain so there was a lot of grass and pasture. It used to rain year after year. But for about three years now, there’s been no sufficient rain.”
Despite the ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa, the community now has access to a safe and adequate water supply, using sustainable technology and renewable energy, which is affordable for the community with minimal maintenance costs.
Osman Abdi from the County Government is happy the bore holes are now pumped using solar power, because using a generator, like before, requires expensive fuel. “By the time this borehole was drilled and solarization was done, it requires no more cost. In the long run, communities are able to sustain themselves,” he explains. “There are also more children in school and gender based violence has reduced, because women and children don’t have to walk long distances to fetch water.”
So far, UNICEF has supported the rehabilitation of 21 water supply systems in Garissa County supplying a total of 92,279 people with safe water.
“The children are safe now and they rarely get sick” says Nasra. “Everything's okay now.”
