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{
    "id": 963679,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/963679/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 306,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mwangi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 75,
        "legal_name": "Ephraim Mwangi Maina",
        "slug": "ephraim-maina"
    },
    "content": "It is unfortunate that this dream of every house having portable water has not been realised. I cannot understand why, because there is adequate water in this country that can be served to Kenyans in every home. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have had a lot of rainfall in this country. With proper planning and if that water is harvested, every Kenyan would have water. We have rivers in this country. Perhaps the challenge could be funds, but I think that the funds that are directed to water development may not be directed to that; maybe not all of it. That is why we have this problem of Kenyans still lacking water in their houses. Mr. Temporary Speaker Sir, we should have irrigation. Every person should have enough water to irrigate so that we can have adequate supply of food. We can have enough food storage so that Kenyans do not have to suffer at any time because of lack of food. We have a lot of water in the Aberdare Mountains, but the people of Nyandarua, who I represent, do not have water. One wonders why we should be going through such problems when we have adequate supply in the county. Mr. Temporary Speaker Sir, I am pleased to share the contents of this Report on the 8th World Water Forum. This Report contains the events attended by the Committee representation in Brasilia, Brazil, during the 8th World Water Conference. The Committee was represented by myself, as the Chairperson, and Sen. Khaniri, a Member of the Committee and also a Member of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC). The Committee was able to discuss, during various bilateral meetings held, on various ways in which Parliament can streamline legislation in the water sector. This is to ensure that there are no overlaps between a particular legislation and the other inter-county disputes in sharing of water resources. What came out was that clear policies should be put in place to ensure that they do not arise. We should not be having problems because of lack of legislation in this country. I think we have enough legislation; we only need to have the line Ministry in place to organise and plan ahead of time, and to do feasibility studies on proper design when it comes to supply of water. We need to have proper articulation across the country so that nobody suffers from lack of water. As I had said before, water is life. The delegates who were present from the country were in agreement that there is need to initiate a managed aquifer charge programme in Nairobi, as the Nairobi’s ground water levels have declined due to over-obstruction. When implemented, this programme will increase water availability and storage will improve ground water quality. It will also reduce the cost of borehole drilling and raise the stability of the city building foundation. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is not so much of the recharging the ground water available in the country. We have adequate water; the only thing that we need to do is a little bit of proper planning. Before we embark on planning, feasibility studies should be done to ensure that there is adequate underground water. The water we have is enough, and when we think that we do not want to exploit all the ground water that we have, we can harvest water and put it in storage facilities instead of thinking on how to recharge. Mr. Temporary Speaker Sir, the country was also privileged to hold the 9th Water Forum Pre-Conference, which was held in Nairobi. The World Water Council (WWC) expects Kenya to support Senegal towards the preparation of the 9th World Water Forum,"
}