Reuters article highlights SWP’s work to preserve springs in Kenya
SWP has partnered with the government of Kenya to protect springs that feed into the Mara River Basin, enhancing access to drinking water and boosting biodiversity
A recent Reuters article has highlighted SWP’s collaboration with water resources users associations (WRUAs) in Kenya to protect and rehabilitate springs in the country’s portion of the Mara River Basin. Launched in 2018, effort aims to improve biodiversity and increase access to drinking water in an area where some people walk three miles for drinking water, having waited in the past all night sometimes.
The protection is achieved by erecting walls and fencing to keep users from contaminating the springs, building supply systems to help villagers tap into the resource more easily, and marking the points where water flows out of aquifers.
Shared between Kenya and its southern neighbor Tanzania, the Mara River Basin supplies water for drinking and for agriculture to some 1.2 million people, and supports world-famous wildlife. Yet today the basin faces degradation and declining water levels due to factors like population growth, climate change, pollution, deforestation, land use changes, and a lack of coordinated planning to manage the resource. These trends have contributed to low water levels, especially during the dry season.
Click here to read the full Reuters article.
Springs feed the at-risk Mara River Basin and its tributaries, such as the Nyangores River (above), and provide a crucial source of drinking water. Photo by SWP.