Improving Groundwater Management and Welfare in Kenya

Data collection at a busy handpump – Kwale County, Kenya

Groundwater and the poor are easily ignored. Hidden underground or of low political priority, the motivation and ability to improve groundwater management and welfare are often constrained by capacity, resources and governance structures. In much of Africa, the political calculus is changing as severe but unpredictable droughts, increasingly decentralised decision-making, and growing water competition are emphasizing the critical nature of groundwater as a buffer to drought, driver of economic growth, and vital resource for the poor and marginalised.

On the south coast of Kenya, today’s situation reflects regional trends with over half a billion dollars of new investments by mining, agriculture and urban development raising concerns about managing and allocating groundwater to protect the resource base and ensure the poor are not marginalised by more powerful interests. As part of the Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor,the Groundwater Risk Management for Growth and Development project has convened researchers from the UK, Kenya and Spain with national and county Government of Kenyan partners and water-related industry.

Yesterday, the Kwale County Government Water Minister, Hon. Hemed Mwabudzo, convened the final project workshop in Diani with over 30 stakeholder partners to discuss 15 recommendations for policy action across four thematic areas (View full Policy Briefing).

Breakout discussion groups at Gro for GooD Final Stakeholder Workshop – 22 Nov 2018

First, geological and geophysical analysis has identified two palaeo-channels (ancient, buried rivers) with significant groundwater resources to contribute to water-related growth and provision of water services to people. Results highlight wider UPGro findings of the critical nature of extreme rainfall disproportionately contributing to recharge replenishing aquifers after droughts. Protecting recharge zones is essential for sustainable management of this ‘new’ resource, and coupled with monitoring and enforcement, can avoid land use planning mistakes. Due to the proximity to the coast, unregulated groundwater abstraction may lead to saline intrusion which underlines the potential importance of the opportunity that Kenyan partners now have to continue the Environmental Monitoring Strategy developed and tested by the project.

Geological map of Kwale County (Surveyed by D.O. Olago, J. Odida, and M. Lane, 2018) ©University of Nairobi

Second, the 2016-17 drought showed the exceptional and unpredictable stress that can suddenly be placed on groundwater resources. The hydrogeological model developed by the project provides the first system-level tool which can be used to support improved management and allocation of resources across multiple and competing groundwater users. This requires improved inter-agency cooperation between the Kwale County Government, Water Resources Authority, National Drought Management Authority, Kenya Meteorological Department and other stakeholders. Immediate steps to deepen priority, shallow dug-wells used by communities would reduce the risk of them drying up and avoid significant social costs, largely borne by poor people. Emergency supplies need to be planned and budgeted for, in the absence of adequate planning, which is a costly response but necessary as expensive vended water costs are absorbed by those least able to pay or least responsible for governance failures.

Third, three rounds of socio-economic surveys were administered in 2014, 2015 and 2016 across 3,500 households across Lunga Lunga, Msambweni and Matuga sub-Counties. Analysis which models the most significant factors to improve household welfare identified four key areas for interventions: a) end open defecation, which occurs in around one third of households, b) increase education attainment from primary to at least secondary level, c) accelerate access to energy services, and d) improve rural water services.

Fourth, linked to improving rural water services and drought resilience, the project has been part of a wider initiative to design and test a performance-based maintenance service for rural water supply infrastructure since 2014. The FundiFix model guarantees repairs to broken infrastructure in three days based on community, school or clinic payment contracts. Currently, 85 handpumps are registered serving 13,000 people, including 4,000 school children, with 99% of repairs completed in less than a day. A Water Services Maintenance Trust Fund was established in 2014 to address the funding gap and test a hybrid financial model blending user, investor and government support. To date, users are paying with private sector support from Base Titanium Limited and doTERRA. These two companies have long-term investments in the county in mining and agriculture and have been founding investors to incubate the model to avoid the traditional approach of building infrastructure with no maintenance provision wasting resources and leaving the poor no better off.

Stakeholders from government, academia, communities, private sector and NGOs discussed these recommendations to identify priority actions against the feasibility of delivery in the next three years. The findings (see bubble figure below) identify the preferences from those stakeholders present. Action is already being taken by county government which has reviewed the project findings and is developing a plan to test the northern palaeo-channel resources in four locations. With a strong evidence base and clear policy messages, wider action is being planned to improve groundwater and welfare outcomes in Kwale County with lessons and methods under consideration nationally.