In the 21st century, as the world faces the greatest climate and water crisis in history, the Turkana region of Kenya has become both a symbol of vulnerability and of opportunity. With temperatures exceeding 40°C, erratic rainfall, and increasingly prolonged droughts, more than one million people live in a context where water is the defining factor between development and collapse. Ninety percent of the population depends on unsafe and seasonal sources, generating food insecurity, recurring diseases, and conflicts over the resource. The situation is critical: a child in Turkana is twice as likely to die before the age of five from waterborne diseases compared to the global average.
This project seeks to break that logic of scarcity and dependence. Through comprehensive WASH solutions, focused on rainwater harvesting and storage, rehabilitation of deep wells, introduction of solar purification technologies, it aims to transform the reality of thousands of families. The magnitude of the change is tangible: each system implemented guarantees the annual consumption of 250 households and reduces by 70% the incidence of waterborne diseases. It is not only about providing water, but about restoring dignity, resilience, and opportunities for the future.
The strategic objective is clear: to ensure sustainable access to clean water, dignified sanitation, and hygiene practices that reduce public health risks and increase community resilience to climate change. The rationale for the project is evident in a context where lack of water access perpetuates the cycle of poverty, malnutrition, and vulnerability. The actors involved include local water operators, County governments, technology providers of solar and wind purification systems, WASH-specialized NGOs, and external verifiers ensuring compliance with the principles of additionality, intentionality, and traceability established by VWBA and WASH BA. In this way, the project fully integrates into the Water Positive strategy, ensuring that every liter accounted for is measurable, verifiable, and transformative.
The main challenge facing Turkana is the combination of structural water scarcity, obsolete supply systems, and an increasingly extreme climate. Currently, communities depend on seasonal rivers, contaminated ponds, and intermittently functioning wells, which not only limits access to safe water but also increases the burden on women and girls, who walk more than 10 km daily to fetch water. This deficit translates into lost productivity, increased incidence of diseases such as diarrhea and cholera, and recurrent social tensions. The lack of adequate infrastructure and effective regulatory frameworks for community water management further exacerbates the problem.
The opportunity lies in implementing an integrated model of water access and management that not only provides water but also transforms communities’ ability to withstand and thrive under adverse conditions. The project includes the rehabilitation of wells with solar pumps ensuring 24/7 continuity, The Project Will utilize simple chlorination technologies installed at water sources and not at household level. In parallel, and community hygiene programs reduce diffuse contamination and improve public health.
The benefits are immediate and measurable: a 60% reduction in time spent collecting water, a 40% increase in school attendance for girls, community savings on healthcare costs, and net replenishment of more than 200,000 m³ of water annually with physical and digital traceability. Medium-term impacts include regeneration of local aquifers, reduced emissions by replacing diesel generators with solar pumps, and the creation of green jobs linked to operation and maintenance.
This model is replicable in any arid or semi-arid region of Sub-Saharan Africa and other water-stressed areas worldwide. Companies with ESG commitments, water neutrality targets, or that seek visibility in meeting SDGs can lead these types of solutions, obtaining tangible benefits in reputation, social license to operate, and competitive differentiation. Acting now is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic decision: every cubic meter managed in Turkana represents a step toward a more resilient future and a testament to the transformative power of innovation in water and sanitation.
The project proposes a comprehensive set of technical-operational solutions adapted to the environmental, institutional, and socioeconomic conditions of Turkana County. These solutions address both the physical recovery of infrastructure and the institutionalization of sustainable and measurable operation models.
The first line of action consists of the physical rehabilitation of rural water systems, including repair or replacement of manual and motorized pumps, installation of solar energy systems for pumping, cleaning of collapsed wells, lining and sanitary protection of catchments, as well as improvements in elevated storage tanks and community distribution networks. These improvements aim to restore full system functionality, increase operational reliability, and reduce downtime.
In parallel, professionalized maintenance contracts based on results will be established, where service provider compensation will be directly linked to verifiable performance metrics: number of system operation days (uptime), volume delivered per day, service continuity, and community satisfaction. This introduces a model of technical accountability and operational efficiency.
A third key component is local technical training, aimed at forming community operators in areas such as pump operation, minor failure resolution, preventive maintenance, water hygiene, technical data collection, and communication with supervisory entities. This approach aims to strengthen local self-sufficiency and reduce dependence on external technicians.
The fourth solution is digital monitoring through the incorporation of flow and uptime sensors connected to remote management digital platforms. This technology enables continuous data acquisition on actual system operation and facilitates the calculation of volumetric water benefits (VWBs), applicable to functional infrastructure improvements.
Finally, the project will be implemented through a phased strategy. The first phase includes detailed diagnostics of selected infrastructures, initial rehabilitation, and pilot site testing of monitoring and maintenance systems. The second phase, with broader scope and multi-year duration, involves scaling the model to multiple communities, refining the results-based model, and consolidating a decentralized and traceable water governance system over time.
The project implementation is organized into four successive stages, with clearly defined technical and operational objectives to ensure traceability, additionality, and permanence of benefits in accordance with the VWBA/WASH BA framework:
First stage – Technical diagnosis and baseline establishment (months 1 to 3): This phase involves comprehensive field assessments to identify the operational status of each selected rural system. Current flow will be measured using portable flowmeters, and historical uptime will be recorded through community interviews, existing records, and direct observation. Additionally, population coverage of each system will be determined, including average distance to water access and collection times. Quality control in this phase is supported by georeferenced records and standardized mobile forms. These data will establish the baseline for VWBs and WASH metrics accounting.
Second stage – Physical rehabilitation and system activation (months 4 to 7): Prioritized systems will be intervened through repairs or replacements of pumps, solar modules, hydraulic structures, and storage tanks. Each rehabilitated system will be validated through hydraulic tests verifying restored flow, as well as pressure and electrical operation tests. Control is conducted through technical inspections, component verification forms, and photographic records. This stage also includes installing flow sensors at key points to facilitate subsequent monitoring.
Third stage – Training, data digitalization, and results-based maintenance (months 8 to 31): A training program will be developed for local operators focused on safe operation, preventive maintenance, fault resolution, and basic system monitoring. This stage marks the beginning of operational data digitalization, with training on using georeferenced mobile forms to record daily system operation, flow rates, uptime, and technical incidents. Maintenance contracts will be formalized with WSMTF, where compensation is linked to achieving monthly uptime targets, service continuity, and population coverage. Monitoring will be conducted through monthly digital reports with cross-verification by sensors and scheduled technical visits. This stage consolidates long-term sustainable system management.
Fourth stage – Consolidation of digital monitoring, validation, and benefit reporting (months 8 to 36): In parallel with operational deployment, a hybrid monitoring system will be implemented: flow and uptime sensors with remote transmission (GSM or WiFi) where possible, integrated with a digital management platform, and manual records in mobile forms validated by technical staff. This consolidated digitalization will provide continuous time series, automated failure alerts, and full traceability for external audit and VWBA/WASH BA metric reporting. Appendix A-4 of VWBA 2.0 will be used to calculate the additional m³ of water delivered due to uptime increase. Access impacts will be evaluated under the WASH BA approach. Semi-annual technical reports will be issued, with annual external review to validate data and ensure methodological integrity.
This strategy combines appropriate technology (solar pumping, digital sensors, mobile forms) with community capacity and financial incentives, ensuring the model’s replicability, traceability, and sustainability in the medium and long term.
The “Safe and Sustainable Water for Turkana” project seeks to restore operational continuity, improve access, and ensure the sustainability of community water supply systems in rural areas of Turkana County, northern Kenya. This intervention responds to a structural problem that combines low basic service coverage, recurring technical failures in existing infrastructure, extreme weather conditions, and weak local management capacity.
The main objective is to generate quantifiable water benefits (in m³/year) through the rehabilitation of community water systems that currently operate intermittently or are out of service. To this end, a comprehensive strategy is adopted based on four pillars: technical diagnosis, physical rehabilitation, digital monitoring, and professionalized operation with a results-based maintenance approach.
In the first stage, a technical and social survey establishes the baseline, identifying the operational status, population coverage, and actual water volume delivered by each system. This quantifies the access gap and precisely defines priority intervention sites.
The second stage involves rehabilitating key water infrastructure, including pumps, solar panels, distribution networks, and catchment points. These works restore full system functionality and increase operational reliability. In parallel, flow and uptime sensors are installed to facilitate measurement of water benefits and service traceability.
In the third phase, a performance-linked maintenance model is implemented, where trained community operators manage continuous system operation. Operator or maintenance entity compensation is tied to verifiable indicators such as actual system uptime, water volume delivered, and number of users covered.
The final phase consolidates digital monitoring through combined use of remote sensors, mobile forms, and data management platforms. These inputs support the calculation of water benefits (VWBs) under the VWBA 2.0 methodology using Appendix A-4 and also capture impacts on access and health under the WASH BA framework.
The initiative is developed within the Lake Turkana watershed, a fragile system of great importance for pastoralist communities in northern Kenya. The project not only improves living conditions, health, and water security for the beneficiary population but also strengthens climate resilience, reduces structural inequalities, and promotes evidence-based and financially sustainable resource management.
This comprehensive approach ensures the additionality, traceability, and permanence of the generated water benefits, aligning with international water accounting standards and directly contributing to 14 Sustainable Development Goals, including universal access to safe water (SDG 6), health (SDG 3), climate resilience (SDG 13), and gender equality (SDG 5).
