Water Governance, Not New Dams, Holds Key to Kenya's Water Security Future

Kenya's long-term water security will not be won by constructing more dams or drilling more boreholes — it will be won in boardrooms, county offices, and Parliament. That was the central message from a High-Level Roundtable Dialogue on Basin Water Resource Committees (BWRCs) convened in Nairobi, where representatives from national government, county administrations, civil society, academia, development partners, and the private sector gathered to chart a path forward for integrated water resources management across the country.

WWF-Kenya Chief Executive Officer Jackson Kiplagat set the tone early, declaring that water security sits at the very heart of Kenya's sustainable development agenda and that achieving it demands every sector actor to pull in the same direction. His organisation has been spearheading the five-year Catchment to Tap Programme — backed by the Netherlands Embassy — which has directed over 500 million shillings into strengthening water governance frameworks, widening access to clean water, and building the capacity of local water institutions since the programme began.

Water Resources Authority CEO Mohammed Shurie did not shy away from acknowledging that the road to functional BWRCs has been far from smooth. He identified legal and institutional conflicts as the chief obstacle behind the slow operationalization of these committees, explaining that overlapping advisory and implementation mandates have bred confusion and stalled meaningful progress on the ground.

Shurie did, however, offer a note of cautious optimism. The Ministry has already tabled amendments to the Water Act before Parliament, a move he said would untangle the blurred lines between who advises and who acts — a distinction that experts regard as fundamental to enabling BWRCs to manage Kenya's river basins with the clarity and authority the role demands.

By the close of proceedings, participants had agreed on a set of concrete resolutions. These covered fast-tracking the Water Act amendments, deepening collaboration between national and county governments, mobilising sustainable long-term financing for water governance, expanding support to Water Resource Users Associations at the community level, and accelerating the rollout of BWRCs across all of Kenya's water basins.

The dialogue wrapped up with a clear and unified conclusion: it is the quality of the institutions governing Kenya's water resources — not the scale of its physical infrastructure — that will ultimately determine whether the country achieves lasting water security and the sustained economic growth that depends on it. For the millions of Kenyans who still go without reliable access to clean water every day, the pressure to get those institutions functioning properly has never been more urgent.