Kenyans in many regions of the country have heaved a sigh of relief after the skies opened and the much-awaited showers came pouring. The Metrological Department had painted a gloomy picture of suppressed rainfall with the blistering heat driving home the point on the effects of climate change and poor management of our water towers and other resources. The last I discussed this water issue was when Cape Town, South Africa, had only months left of water supply leading to very strict rules around its consumption. Understandably so, you would get into trouble for washing your car or having leaky plumbing. The ABC’s of the water cycle are easy to understand and despite the calls to disrupt everything using technology, this is one issue where Occam’s razor, a philosophical problem solving principle, come to mind. At the core of Occam’s razor is the premise that simpler solutions are likely to be a better fit that overly complex ones.
Zeroing down to our urban centres where population density opens up certain possibilities, why do we use portable water in our toilets or do city fathers use the same in our greenways and open spaces or we let runoff from our homes and storm drains go to waste? When you take a second look, it seems ludicrous given the water stress that we are experiencing, yet we persist.
