The global water crisis is underlined by the fact that 785 million people, or one out of every 10 persons, has no access to clean water, while more than two billion people lack proper sanitation due to insufficient water, according to the UN.
Yet, nothing is more essential to life on earth than water. The World Bank predicts the deficit between available water supply and demand will hit 40 percent by 2030 mainly due to climate change and expanding global population.
Failure to reverse this shortfall has detrimental implications for the quest for sustainable development and inclusive growth.
Without clean water, families and communities are condemned to perpetual poverty and disease. Women and girls bear the greater burden of the water crisis considering they spend more than 200 million hours daily looking for water collectively, according to UNICEF.
Article 43 of the Constitution asserts the basic right of every person to clean and safe water in adequate quantities. But findings show that 16 million Kenyans lack safe drinking water while 24 million are without improved sanitation. Fifteen percent rely on unimproved water sources such as ponds, wells and rivers.
Adequate, clean and safe drinking water for all is an achievable goal. Fortunately, even with the intensifying global water scarcity, significant strides have been made, with data by World Vision showing the number of people without access to water declined from 1.1 billion in 2000 to 785 million in 2017.
However, there is still a lot of work to do in not only enhancing the availability of this essential commodity but also its benefits such as improved sanitation and hygiene. Investing in clean water, sanitation and hygiene is one of the most potent ways of eliminating poverty and disease in our midst.
The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of water as an indispensable weapon in preventing and fighting disease.
As the world prepares for the UN 2023 Conference on Water to be held in New York, this is the time to reflect on how countries can ensure water security.
Water security is the availability of affordable and reliable water resources in quantities that enable people to lead healthy and productive lives. Water is one of the best investments countries can make in improving the health and wellbeing of their people.
However, attaining water security requires massive resources. It cannot be left to government alone and must be a concerted effort to bring on board public, private and civic sector actors.
For this reason, Faulu Bank has partnered with Water.org — an international organisation working to break financial barriers to access to water — and the Association of Microfinance Institutions of Kenya to enhance water access and sanitation to more than 10,000 of the bank’s customers.
In 2021, Faulu issued water-related loans to the tune of over Sh100 million to households and small businesses, to improve water harvesting and storage as well as sanitation.
Working with like-minded partners in the water sector, we were determined to ensure Kenya achieves its agenda on making clean, safe water accessible to all, in line with Sustainable Development Goal Four.
Through affordable loans by the bank, our customers are able to purchase water tanks, construct gutters and connect their homes to piped water and sewer lines.
We are also providing affordable credit by way of asset finance and working capital to our customers in water-related business ventures including borehole drilling, transport bowsers, dam and water pan construction. Such a market-based approach is sustainable in the long term from both a financial and social investment perspective.
We believe water resources contribute enormously to the economic productivity and social wellbeing of individuals and communities. Integrating water and sanitation lending to our lending portfolio also allows us to deliver positive social value to communities while strengthening the sustainability of our business.
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