Bomet water supply and sanitation project, with which the national government of the Republic of Kenya intends to expand clean water supply in Bomet County, particularly in Bomet, Longisa, and Mulot, has kicked off. This was announced by Andrew Tuimur, the Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation (MoWSI).

Funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the US $13m project will be implemented by the Lake Victoria South Water Works Development Agency (LVSWWD) formerly Lake Victoria South Water Services Board, under the Kenya Towns Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Program, which aims to improve water supply services access, quality, availability and sustainability, and wastewater management in Kenyan cities, so as to boost commercial activities, stimulate economic growth and job creation, improve the populations’ quality of life, and strengthen resilience to fluctuations and climate change.

Expectations for the project

Upon completion, the Bomet water supply and sanitation project is expected to benefit 216,850 people in the region, where water scarcity is a major problem, both in urban and rural areas. A high number of schools in the region for instance are dependent on rainwater as they have no access to pipelines while others are forced to source the commodity from local rivers.

The project is part of a series of other initiatives being implemented countrywide as the government targets to boost food security and sanitation.

“We have started the process of bringing clean drinking water to all Kenyans with a focus not only on the urban but also rural population,” said Dr. Tuimur adding that it is important that farmers adopt modern farming techniques to maximize land use in the country with a special focus on irrigation so as to produce food crops all year round.

“The focus should be to fulfill the local and foreign market demands,” he concluded.