East Africa: Drop in Lake Level Worries UN
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The Nation (Nairobi)
5 September 2008
Posted to the web 6 September 2008
Odhiambo Orlale
Nairobi
A United Nations agency has pledged to work closely with East African Community to address concerns over falling water levels in Lake Victoria.
The executive secretary of UN Habitat, Dr Anna Tibaijuka, told Water Development ministers from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi that the issue was not only of regional concern, but had international implications.
Handed over
"Lake Victoria water comes from streams and rivers from the five EAC member states, and we are concerned about how we can conserve and preserve the water catchment areas to assist you meet the Millennium Development Goals as far as water and sanitation are concerned," Dr Tibaijuka told Water ministers from the five EAC-member states in Nairobi.
Water and Irrigation Development minister Charity Ngilu expressed the same concerns at the meeting, attended by Uganda's Maria Mutagamba, Tanzania's Mark Mwandosya, Burundi's Samuel Ndayaragije and Rwanda's Stanislas Kamanzi.
The Ugandan minister was the chair of the Lake Victoria Region Water and Sanitation Initiative until yesterday, when she handed over to Mrs Ngilu.
In her address, Mrs Ngilu said the Kenyan Government would strengthen institutions that manage and regulate water and sanitation.
She said the Government had also prioritised water and sanitation delivery as a key ingredient in its development plan, dubbed Vision 2030.
"Realising that Kenya experiences high climactic variability including on the Lake Victoria Basin, water storage has been identified as a high priority," Mrs Ngilu said.
She said that was why the Government was committing a lot of resources into the conservation of the Mau Forest, saying that plans to evict people living in the catchment area were advanced.
"We demand that those downstream riparian members who benefit directly from the water of the lake allocate financial resources towards the upkeep of the catchment area," she said.
Mrs Ngilu thanked the Government for increasing funding to her ministry, but noted it was not enough to meet the Millennium Development Goals, saying the EAC states required Sh28 billion, with Kenya's contribution being Sh3.7 billion.
Ms Mutagamba said her government had been monitoring the water levels in the biggest fresh water lake in Africa by stationing engineers at Jinja, the source of River Nile.
"The low levels of water in Lake Victoria were also due to the recent drought in the region and this forced us to shut some of our hydro-electricity power plants and import expensive equipment to generate power," she said.
She said the level at Jinja had dropped by two metres but had since rise from that level by a metre.
Immediate needs
Earlier, Dr Tibaijuka praised the Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Initiative.
She said the initiative would also integrate actions to meet the most immediate needs in water and sanitation, drainage and waste management.
On the progress report of the programme, the UN official said they were in the first phase and so far two towns each in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania had been identified to benefit from the initiative.
Relevant Links
"The Government of the Netherlands had pledged a further $5.6 million at the beginning of 2008 to enable the project to be expanded," she said.
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