Kisumu Governor Prof.Anyang Nyong’o officiated over the launch of Kisumu County Water and Sewerage Services Sector Policy.
During his speech at The Grand Royal Swiss Hotel, the Governor expressed his gratitude for the good work that the Department of Water, Environment, Irrigation and Natural Resources had done so far especially with the drafting of the sector policy.
He mentioned that delivering accessible clean, safe and affordable water to the community was one of the key pillars in his Manifesto and therefore this policy is setting a strategic path to its achievement.
The policy focuses on some of the following areas; Water Resources Management, Water Services Provision, Water Tariffs and Charges among others.
Kisumu’s water production has grown from a paltry 11 million litres per day to stand at 81 million litres per day a process that saw an infrastructural injection of 5.8 billion over the past 12 years. This expansion carried out by the Lake Victoria South Water Board (LVSWB) has been funded by the National Government with donor support from the French Government and the World Bank.
The CEO of LVSWB Eng. Petronilla Ogut stated that the organization has received a further injection of 7 billion from GoK and European Union to improve the existing water works and extend water infrastructure to the outlying towns of Maseno, Ahero and Kombewa.
The Governor gave a strong commitment to continue cementing the cordial partnership with the water sector partners whose input is transforming the sector which he noted as immense.
The policy document is a production borne out of an inclusive and consultative engagement with the water sector players in the region.
The WASH network had representation from Kewadnet, Living Water, SANA, the Netherlands Development Organization, Water and Sanitation for the Poor, UK Aid, Kiwasco among others, all of whom were instrumental in the contribution to the policy document.
Kisumu County is one of the three city-counties of Kenya with the other two being Nairobi and Mombasa. Overall, there are 47 counties in Kenya. Its borders follow those of the original Kisumu District, one of the former administrative districts of the former Nyanza Province in western Kenya. Its headquarters is Kisumu City. It has a population of 968,909 (according to the 2009 National Census). The land area of Kisumu County totals 2085.9 km²
Kisumu County’s neighbours are Siaya County to the West Vihiga County to the North, Nandi County to the North East and Kericho County to the East. Its neighbour to the South is Nyamira County and Homa Bay County is to the South West. The county has a shoreline on Lake Victoria, occupying northern, western and a part of the southern shores of the Winam Gulf.
Kisumu County is located in western Kenya, far from the nation’s capital. (To the southwest, in neighbouring Siaya County, lies the village of Nyang’oma Kogelo, birthplace of Barack Obama senior.)
The city of Kisumu, on the shores of Lake Victoria, has historically functioned as a major center of East African commerce. Because of its location along Africa’s largest lake, the area is ideally situated for fishing and fish processing, but the central government has long controlled key concessions on the lake, and economic development has left many of the inhabitants behind. Fishing, sugarcane farming, and rice farming are the county’s principal industries.