NAIROBI: The Water Resources Authority (WRA) has launched its 2023 to 2027 Strategic Plan, aiming to regulate the management and use of water resources in alignment with Kenya’s Vision 2030 and the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda. The plan focuses on addressing compliance with water laws, climate change integration, stakeholder partnerships, and resource mobilization to improve water management and conservation.
According to Kenya News Agency, the plan’s objectives include operationalizing water resource information gathering, strengthening water planning allocation, building institutional capacity, and enhancing conservation efforts for water catchment areas. During the launch event in Nairobi, Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation, Eng. Eric Mugaa, emphasized the plan as a blueprint for future prosperity, highlighting digital service integration and real-time data for flood monitoring.
Eng. Mugaa appealed for collaboration with development partners to support the
WRA and the ministry in water regulation efforts. He underscored the importance of WRA’s mandate, suggesting that failure could disrupt the entire water management chain, impacting service delivery at all levels.
Principal Secretary of the State Department of Water and Irrigation, Julius Korir, noted the WRA’s alignment with the Water Act of 2016, focusing on sustainable surface and groundwater development. Korir emphasized the department’s role in supporting integrated water resource management to ensure water availability and accessibility, pointing out the current disparity between available and needed water per capita.
The strategic plan, a successor to the 2018-2022 plan, is launched amidst global environmental challenges like climate change, which have affected water reserves. This initiative coincides with the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda, underscoring water as essential for industrial and agricultural growth, thereby necessitating enhanced water resource management for sustained access a
nd availability.