Environment
A new solar technology for water purification and storage has been launched in Uasin Gishu County.
To improve on the widely used Jerry can water storage solutions, 4Life solutions has launched SAWA can that utilizes heat from the sun to purify water by killing disease causing microorganisms in water.
Speaking at the launch in Uasin Gishu the Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organization (MYWO) National Chairperson Mrs. Rahab Mwikali Muiu pointed out that a lot of households do not have access to clean and safe drinking water.
“The clean energy drinking water solutions is a transformative initiative aimed at increasing access to safe drinking water across the country, improve public health, economic empowerment and climate resilience in Kenya,” she said.
Muiu noted that according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) 842,000 people in the world are estimated to die each year as result of unsafe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene practices.
“Currently our nation is grappling with the ongoing floods. These floods have increased the risks of water borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid posing a significant threat to public health and safety, “she said.
She said that MYWO extends its deepest sympathies to the families affected by the crisis noting the critical importance of addressing water borne diseases particularly this time of flooding.
“In November 2019 we launched a national water harvesting project targeting every woman at the grassroots household in Kenya to get at least 30,000 litres water tank through loans to be paid in a period of 1or 2 years,” she added.
She further noted that to roll out the project country wide the MYWO has partnered with Equity bank to provide access to affordable credit to women to acquire at least a 10,000 liters water tank. “The project is to enable women to access affordable loans to acquire water tanks to store reliable water for domestic use, improve health, sanitation and dignity for women and enable smart agriculture,” said Muiu
“Women in 10 counties have received over 500 tanks, more than 900,000 liters of water have been harvested through the project and over Sh6 million worth of loans disbursed to members by Equity bank,” she added. She revealed that so far over 300 women have been trained on financial literacy, digital literacy and entrepreneurship.
She stated that MYWO has recognized the critical importance of not only harvesting water but also ensuring its cleanness and safety for household consumption.
“We have moved to the next level now that we have harvested water so as to ensure the water is safe for consumption by rolling out the clean energy purification solution, an innovative advancement in water purification using the power of sunlight to eliminate harmful microorganisms present in water sources,” noted Muiu.
“We are training women groups in Uasin Gishu in partnership with 4life solutions to access information so as to increase access to safe drinking water to reduce risks on water borne diseases, reduce deforestation activities, emission of greenhouse gases, emission of carbon from boiling water with fire wood,” said the chairperson.
She called on residents to embrace the solar can as a transformative tool for water purification which is efficient and sustainable.
According to commercial partnership sales Director of 4Life Solutions, Solomon Muigai Kamau it is a privilege to partner with MYWO in working in this journey of achieving safe water in the Kenyan households.
“The advantage with this solution is to purify normal water that households have access to, be it rains water, river source, borehole water or whatever water source you have at household level, that is what we are seeking to purify and eradicate water borne diseases that keep on being a menace to the society,” he said.
“We have high cost of health care with illness that originates from water borne diseases and sometimes some cases end up being fatal and this being so we saw the need to partner with MYWO so that we can access all the households across the country and have this initiative cascarded to achieve a healthy society.
He clarified that the can has a capacity of 6 litres and if exposed to the sun for 4 hours, it is able to eradicate all disease-causing microorganisms within the water.
“We seek to improve the economic wellbeing of the Kenyan women by enabling them to also create business from this partnership through peer-to –peer sales within their community,” said Kamau.