By Betty Luke
More than 5000 residents in Isiolo’s Kiwanjani village in Wabera ward, Isiolo North constituency are a happy lot following the solarization of a borehole that will see them access water on regular basis.
The borehole located at the county’s police headquarters previously majorly relied on electricity to pump water to a steel tank at the Isiolo Water and Sewerage Company’s (IWASCO) offices before later supplying to the users which was costly.
According to IWASCO Managing Director Abdullahi Sora, the company was unable to continuously pump water due to high electricity bill, resulting in rationing of the vital commodity which could only be provided twice a week.
The rationing is said to have forced the affected residents to walk longer distances in search of water and also affected their hygiene and sanitation.
“The stored water was not enough for home consumption. Schools and health facilities were affected by the rationing with majority of us walking to get water in the neighbouring Meru county,” said Mr Mohammed Noor.
But, the residents can now breath a sigh of relief following the Sh2.5 million intervention, by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Resilient Arid Lands Partnership for Integrated Development Plus (RAPID+) in partnership with Davis and Shirtliff (D$S) that will increase pumping hours to 20 from the current 12 and also reduce electricity consumption by the service provider.
The 11 Kilowatts (Kw) borehole pump is fitted with 54 solar panels each with 335 watt and 15Kw sunverter.
“The project has enabled us increase supply hours and ensure our clients in Kiwanjani access water more often. We use the solar system to pump water during the day and electricity at night,” noted Mr Sora who revealed that the company was saving Sh30, 000 on power consumption since the completion of the project in July this year.
CRS RAPID+ representative Josphat Siele said the initiative is part of their mission to improve water access by communities in ASAL region.According to the official, the Swiss Agency for Development and Corporation (SDC) five year project hopes to support over 30,000 residents within the county access water with 3,000 of the targeted beneficiaries being in urban centers.
“We are committed to partnering with communities and other organizations to ensure adoption of similar technologies in improving water access in the region,” he told journalists in Isiolo town.
D&S representative Engineer Churchill Obiero said that the initiative was part of it’s Corporate Social Responsibility where they were targeting to support 130 water access projects across the country.
Mr Sora said although they had improved water access within the municipality, they still required solarization support for three more boreholes.He said solarization of the three boreholes would ensure uninterrupted water supply,within the 24 square kilometre area that they serve.
“Isiolo is a water scarce area and we rely on boreholes to supplement the water we get from the neighbouring Meru county. If solarized, we will adequately utilize the boreholes,” he noted.
