Turkana Chief Officer (CO) Water Services, Simon Etom yesterday hosted a delegation from an Israel based Non-Governmental Organization IsraAID led by Country Director Gayle Deighton which made a courtesy visit to discuss areas of partnership.
Etom appreciated the delegation for the visit and encouraged the IsraAID team to be conversant with the Water Act 2019 which he said is the best guiding tool for partners implementing Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programs in the County.
“The Act provides for a number of good things such as the establishment of a rangeland management unit which establishes plans for water for livestock as well as water governance,” he said.
The CO also called on the team to complement the County government especially on capacity building of County hydrologists, geologists and design officers for professional development.
He further urged partners to also invest in water conservation as an alternative way of providing access to water to residents.
“We need to start discussions on harnessing and harvesting water going forward. We will have to have a roundtable discussion on exploring ways of investing in water conservation,” he said.
On her part, IsraAID Country Director Gayle Deighton outlined the emergency response and resilience projects implemented by IsraAID in Turkana West sub-County as she called for more partnership with the County Government.
“We hope to strengthen our partnership and explore technology just like Israel to improve on water provision. Going forward, I will discuss training with the Embassy of Israel for professional development of technical officers in the County,” she said.
Director Water Services Tito Ochieng on his part called for support in equipping the laboratory for water quality analysis which he said needed some upgrading.
IsraAID has implemented WASH programmes in Turkana West Sub County and plans projects such as rehabilitation and maintenance of water points, capacity building of water users, provision of clean water, desalinization, water quality mapping of water points and hydrological survey in Kakuma.
Source: Kenya News Agency