Unplanned harvesting and wanton destruction of indigenous trees have been blamed on the desperate state of the Cherangany water tower complex
Eldoret Water and Sewerage Services Ltd (ELDOWAS) has rolled out a programme to plant at least a million tree seedlings on 6,000 acres of land within different forests in the North Rift region.
The organisation has already planted trees in the Kaptagat forest and put in place systems for proper management of the forest which is part of the Cherangany water tower complex.
“We have forest stations within the Kaptagat catchment, Sabaor, Kaptagat, and Emon that will work closely with the community forest association to ensure the water tower is sustainably managed,” ELDOWAS Managing Director Kibet Biwott said.
He said unplanned harvesting and wanton destruction of indigenous trees in the recent past had forced ELDOWAS to shut down one of its water treatment plants at Kapsoiya whose source was Kaptagat for lack of water.
“Our Pombo reservoir no longer receives enough water because the rivers and streams supplying it have dried up due to the destruction of the forest. This led to the closure of Kapsoiyo treatment works because it no longer received enough water from the reservoir,” he said.
Biwott added that they are now solely dependent on the Chebara dam producing 41.3 million cubic litres of water per day out of the expected 60 million cubic litres to cater for 424,000 residents of Eldoret.
“The importance of water as a resource cannot be overemphasised, conflicts have been known to erupt because of water scarcity that is why we need to re-afforest and conserve our major water towers to ensure that the residents of Eldoret town and its environs receive sufficient water,” Biwott said.
The clarion call of the organisation is Linda Maji Mtaani and Linda Maji Viwandani, which is a call to preserve the little available water after a tough drought season.
“We recently launched Eldoret inaugural conference in conjunction with Eldoret City Marathon with the key mandate of mitigating climate and preserving the environment and where each athlete plants a tree to commemorate their running,” added Biwott.
Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA) Managing Director Sammy Naporos said one of the major risks to forests is the high dependence on firewood by many locals. He said without trees, some of their major activities such as honey and mango juice production, would not be possible.
“Our trees are being cut down and mostly the endangered indigenous trees that are key to our environmental preservation and our business as well,” said Naporos.
His organisation, he said, is undertaking several projects in line with environmental conservation, among them agroforestry for food security and improved household income. “As KVDA, we are at the forefront of educating the community on the importance of forest conservation and tree planting and we have put forward an alternative biogas use among the locals as an alternative source of energy,” he said.
About five million assorted fruit seedlings are set to be planted within the larger NOREB region.
“We have adopted Kipkabus forest for purposes of conservation using bamboo seedlings and we are set to plant a million seedlings once the rains proper start,” said Naporos.
The organisation has also mobilised support from various schools and organised groups through which some 200,000 seedlings have been distributed for planting.
Legendary Kipchoge Keino and Eliud Kipchoge said that sporting activity, especially athletics, is only possible in a well-conserved environment.
“It is fun, enjoyable to run in a forest area. One takes in clean oxygen and as a result, the altitude favours the athletes in proper training and eventually winning as we have shown in our past local and international excellent performance,” Kipchoge said.
Source: MY Gov