Kenya: Israeli Govt to Help Address Water Shortages
By Ben Omondi
NAIROBI--In an interview, Mr Jacob Keidar, Israel’s ambassador to Kenya said that the Israeli government is ready to assist Kenya in areas of water infrastructure “as some regions in the country have excess water while other parts of the country lack the commodity.”
“There is need for Kenya to develop and implement a national water plan to bring water from places of abundance to places of shortage,” said Mr Keidar, noting that in Israel, water is distributed from the Lake of Galilee to the desert parts of the country through the country’s national water carrier built in the 1960s and which was based on the country’s Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).
“In Israel, the amount of water per person is less than one-third of what we have in Kenya but through the IWRM, national water plan and proper infrastructure, Israel is able to provide water in good quality and without shortage and interruptions to all its population,” said Mr Keidar.
The Israeli envoy’s comments come at a time when various parts of the country are going through a prolonged drought while other regions are experiencing above normal rainfall.
According to United Nations Development Programmes’ 2006 Human Development Report, Kenya’s average water use per person per day was 50 litres while Uganda’s, Rwanda’s and Ethiopia’s was less than 30 litres.
The Israeli envoy said that proper water resources management “requires planning and infrastructure,” but added that: “we have to remember also how to save water via the use of drip irrigation, rain water harvesting and storage.”
He urged Kenya’s water sector players to create “new water,” which unlike natural water derived from lakes, rivers, rain and ground water sources, can come from two methods.
“One is sea water desalination in large scale, like in Israel which aims to have 25 per cent of its water supply to come from sea water desalination. Now, 20 per cent of Israel’s water comes from sea water desalination but the goal is to increase this to 25 per cent by 2015,” said Keidar.
The second method of creating “new water,” said Keidar, depends on big investment in infrastructure and planning and involves treatment and re-use of sewerage, giving the example of Israel where about 75 per cent of all sewerage water is treated and re-used for agricultural irrigation.
“Prices of treatment technology is going down and soon, the technology will be affordable and applicable to Kenya. But this requires leadership and push by the government while implementation can be done by the private sector after the government has spearheaded the planning process,” noted the envoy.
The Israeli envoy’s remarks come at time when the amount of water available per person in Africa is declining and only 26 of the continent's 53 countries are currently on track to reduce by half the number of people without sustainable access to clean drinking water by 2015, according to a survey by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Furthermore, notes the UNEP report, only five countries in Africa are expected to attain the target of reducing by half the proportion of the population without sustainable access to basic sanitation by 2015, the deadline of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a series of targets agreed to by all countries and leading development institutions to meet the needs of the world's poorest.
The Africa Water Atlas, compiled by UNEP at the request of the African Ministers' Council on Water and which was launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the Africa Water Week last year, also maps out new solutions and success stories on water resources management from across the continent.
It contains the first detailed mapping of how rainwater conservation is improving food security in drought-prone regions as well as images indicating how irrigation projects in Kenya, Senegal and Sudan are helping to improve food security.