439 300
The Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation is mandated to coordinate Water Resources Management; water catchment area Conservation, Control and Protection; water and sewerage services management; water quality and pollution control; water harvesting and storage for Domestic, Irrigation and Industrial Use; National Irrigation Management; Flood Control Management; Development of irrigation infrastructure; and Land Reclamation.
These functions resonate with the sector’s key commitments which seek to increase water and sanitation coverage as well as improve food security in the country.
Over the last 16 months of Kenya Kwanza Administration, the Ministry has:
· Increased national water coverage from 69.9% in 2022 to 72% in 2023. In the last year, over 4 million people have been connected to water by completion of over 100 projects which are due for commissioning.
· Increased urban sewerage from 27.7% in 2022 to 32% in 2023 through completion of sewerage projects in 13 towns under Kenya Town program serving 1 million people.
Read Also:CS Wahome Hands over Water Appeal Board to Judiciary
· Increased water production by 10.6% from 452 million cubic meters in 2022 to 500 million cubic meters in 2023
· Reduction of Non-Revenue Water (NRW) from 47% in 2022 to 45% in 2023.
· Increased water storage per capita by 12.1% from 107 cubic meters in 2022 to 120 cubic meters in 2023 through completion of dams (Yamo, Karimenu II, Forole, Na’keitum, Keses, e.t.c) and water pans.
· Increased area under irrigation by 7.2% from 664,000 acres in 2022 to 711,933 acres in 2023 through National Expanded(NEIP) and Community Based Irrigation Schemes(CBIS) and Completed Supplemental Irrigation from Water Harvested.
· Increased volume of water harvested and stored for Irrigation by 20% through completion of Thiba dam, Community and Household water pans projects.
· Increased production of paddy rice by 22% from 192,299 metric tonnes in 2022 to 234,000 metric tonnes in 2023 through development of new rice schemes and double cropping from Mwea Irrigation schemes.
In implementation of BETA and Kenya Kwanza Manifesto the Ministry is committed to:
· Increasing the Water Coverage to 80% by 2027, Urban Sewerage coverage to 40% and safely managed Sanitation to 50%. Through completion of ongoing projects under Kenya Towns, Implementation of PPP projects, Kenya National Urban Water and sanitation Program, Kenya Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (K-WASH) Program and Horn of Africa; Groundwater for Resilience Project
· Construction of 100 Large Dams through PPP, concessional financing, Green Climate Finance, GoK and EPCF. The dams will be implemented progressively until the target of 100 dams is achieved. It is projected that 34 large dams be implemented in the next 5 years.
· To increase the area under irrigation from 664,000 acres to 916,000 acres from community and large-scale projects
· To increase irrigated rice & maize production from 192,299 tonnes & 195,921 (90kg) bags to 440,000 & 5.075M (90kg bags) respectively Implementing an intensification programme in irrigation schemes
· Reduce the share of non-revenue water in 47 Counties to less than 30%
· To increase capacity of water harvested and stored for irrigation from 128MCM to 329 MCM
· To increase area rehabilitated, reclaimed and restored from 55,000 acres to 61,750 acres
· Implementation of 20,000 acres for Galana production and Implementation of Galana-Kulalu Dam 400MCM
· Construct 152 Km dykes for flood control.
The Ministry is set to host Water and Sanitation Investors Conference (WASIC) 2024 from 6th to 8th March 2024 at KICC aiming at promoting business partnership and financing towards sustainable access to water and sanitation services for all Kenyans.