Water harvesting and climate change adaptation

As I noted in an earlier post, taking measures to cope with climate change is what is referred to as climate change adaptation. Adaptation measures are necessary in order to enable communities to deal with the negative impacts of climate change and to take advantage of opportunities that might result from it.

For example, climate change is expected to result in increased rainfall in some areas. This could mean that there is a better ability for such areas to produce food hence increasing communities’ food security. Other areas are expected to become drier and hotter, meaning that water scarcity could become the norm.

One important and effective climate change adaptation measure is water harvesting.

In many countries including Kenya, climate change is expected to lead to more frequent and severe extreme events such as droughts and floods. It is common for communities affected negatively by drought in one year to also suffer from floods the following year and in the process lose their assets such as livestock and even human lives.

Such communities need to be supported by the government to address such climate extremes. One way of doing this is harvesting and storing rain and flood water for use during the dry season. Water harvesting can be done at household and community levels. Construction or installation of water storage facilities such as tanks and waterproof pits is a measure to store water at the household level.

At the community level, construction of various types of dams can be undertaken by communities themselves with the support of the government or other funding agencies. In Kenya, the government has devolved the functions of water provision and management to counties. This gives each county the leeway to determine its priorities with respect to choice of water harvesting methods and resources allocation to ensure that the water harvesting methods used and resources allocated for this purpose are well matched.

In addition to storing water for use during the dry season, dams also help to control flooding and hence to minimise flood damage and loss of assets or human lives and livestock. This makes communities more resilient to climate extremes.

Fortunately, the Government of Kenya, through the Water Act 2016 has proposed the establishment of the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority to oversee water harvesting activities countrywide. This is in line with both the Constitution of Kenya (2010) and Vision 2030 both of which seek to, or provide for, increased access to clean water for all in adequate quantities and quality at an affordable price. The Constitution in the Bill of Rights (Article 43) recognises the right to water as a basic human right.

It is important for all us to play our part in conserving water. Even without climate change, Kenya is considered a water scarce country. Everybody, whether living in a rural or urban area needs to get involved in the conservation of water at home and on the farm. Where possible, practices the result in wastage of water such as overhead irrigation should be minimised in favour of those that use water more efficiently such as drip irrigation.

With everybody playing their part and the national and county governments providing necessary support and resources, Kenyans will be well placed to adapt to climate change, achieve food security and become more resilient to climate shocks.

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