Transcript CONSULTATIVE FORUM ON DRAFT WRM RULES

Draft Rules to Govern Water
Resources Management in Kenya
Eugen M. Mnyamwezi
Water Resources Management Authority (WRMA), Kenya.
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Background
 Water is scarce because of the limited endowment, rapid
population increase, impacts of climate variability and
continued decline in public expenditure on developing
water resources and neglect of the management of the
water resource base and the consequential serious
degradation.
 In spite of this, water is neither understood, treated,
developed nor managed as a scarce resource.
 Loss of forest cover is a severe problem, pollution of the
resource, poor management compound the water
problem further.
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Policy Reforms in the Water Sector
 Kenya’s vulnerability to the effects of the
mismanagement and degradation has called for
significant policy response and action.
 One major policy change is the shift from service
provision to participatory governance of water. In
this regard, the government enacted the Water
Act 2002 which separates the functions of policy
formulation and regulation from service
provision.
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The key principles underlying the governance of water
resources reforms are:
 Separation of policy, regulation, and service provision
within the water and sewerage services;
 Separation of water resources management from
provision of water and sewerage services;
 Devolution of responsibilities for water resources
management and water service provision to the local
level;
 Enhancing the sustainability of service provision.
The Act provides the legal framework in line with the new
policy changes. New institutions with separate functions
have been established and decentralised decision making
is reflected in autonomous regional bodies.
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Current Water Sector Institutions As Established by the
Water Act 2002
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Water Resources Management Authority (WRMA)
Water Services Regulatory Board (WSRB)
Water Services Trust Fund (WSTF)
Water Service Boards (WSB)
Water Appeals Board (WAB)
Water Catchment Areas Advisory Committees (CAAC)
Water Service Providers (WSP)
Water Resource Users Associations (WRUA)
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Water Resources Management Authority (WRMA)
The Water Act established the Water Resources Management
Authority (WRMA) as the lead agency that will oversee the
management, use and development of water resources in the country.
WRMA has regional offices at catchment levels for decentralised
decision making, quick response to management problems and for
speedy water allocation processing.
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The powers and functions of WRMA
 Develop principles, guidelines and procedures for the
allocation of water resources;
 Monitor and assess implementation of the National
Water Resources Management Strategy (NWRMS);
 Receive and determine applications for permits for water
use;
 Monitor and enforce conditions attached to permits for
water use;
 Regulate and protect water resources quality from
adverse impacts;
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The powers and functions of WRMA
Manage and protect water catchments;
Determine charges to be imposed for the
use of water from any water resource;
Gather and maintain information on water
resources and from time to time publish
forecasts, projections and information on
water resources; and
Liase with other bodies for the better
regulation and management of water
resources.
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Strategic Objectives of WRMA
 To build and strengthen institutional capacity;
 To maintain and sustain safe yields from the
catchments;
 To effectively assess water resources;
 To regulate and control the use of water
resources;
 To increase water availability;
 To ensure financial sustainability;
 To undertake resource mobilization;
 To build integrated communication mechanisms
among stakeholders;
 To mainstream gender HIV/AIDS and
governance issues;
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The Draft Water Resources Management Rules
 To enable the authority carry out the above mandates, it is
necessary to introduce the draft rules to govern the various
activities that impact on water resources in the country.
 Sec 110 of the Water Act 2002 calls for rules to be prescribed for
carrying out or giving effect to the provisions of the Act
 The draft rules provide for the mechanisms which will ensure
efficiency and improved service delivery by binding the WRMA to
respond within specified time to applications, requests for action
and to complaints that are raised.
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The Draft Water Resources Management Rules (Ctd)
 The draft rules also introduce the requirement that WRMA
provides water resources data and other information to the
public in a timely manner at a reasonable cost.
 The draft rules lays down the types of activities related to
water resources that will require approval by the WRMA.
 They also indicate the process that will be undertaken in
application and issuance of permits for various works.
Other issues include water use charges, conservation of
riparian and catchment areas, catchment management
strategies, protected areas, resource classification and
water quality assessment.
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Why Draft Rules for Water Resources Management?
The Draft Rules aim to address persistent problems in
the water sector such as
• Poor regulatory environment
• Poor water quality
• Low water reliability
• Destruction of catchment areas
Addresing these problems is within the mandate of the
Water resources Management Authority (WRMA) and
the draft Rules are introduced for use by the authority to
support the enforcement of the Water Act.
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What Issues are addressed by the Draft Rules
 Catchment protection and destruction
 Water resources Classifications & allocation
Penalties for non compliance
 Enforcement of standards
 Permitting/water allocation
 Water Quality and Pollution control
 Protection of water bodies
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What Issues are addressed by the Draft Rules
(Ctd)
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Introduction of stakeholder participation
Decentralization of services
Technical reports
Water abstractions
Water use charges
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How will a common water user benefit from the Draft Rules
The rules have been designed to benefit all water users
relying on or with an interest in water resources.
For instance, domestic, agriculture, livestock and industrial
water users will benefit in the following ways:
 Domestic: A reserve is set to ensure priority is given to
domestic water users.
 Agriculture: Priority will be given to minor irrigation,
which is mainly small scale for livelihood support. The
rules encourage water efficiency in agriculture and
industrial water use.
 Livestock owners and downstream users: the Draft rules
provide for a reserve that aims at benefiting downstream
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water users.
How do the draft rules serve to protect water
catchment areas and water bodies
 The draft rules offer to control activities that can
cause over exploitation and pollution of water
bodies.
 They also provide for the gazettement of any
threatened water catchment area as a protected
area.
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How do the draft rules provide for stakeholder
participation on water resources management
Water resources management requires an integrated
approach. In recognition of this, the draft rules provide and
encourage
 The formation and strengthening of Water Resource
Users’ Associations (WRUAs).
 Clearly define the role of WRUAs and their relationship
with WRMA.
 Recognise the advisory role of CAACs at catchment
area level. Each WRMA Catchment area has 15 CAAC
members drawn from stakeholder groups within the
respective catchments.
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How will the draft rules benefit water service providers, community
water projects, disadvantaged groups etc.
 The draft rules give priority to domestic water users and
sets lower water use charges for them.
 The rules recognise that majority of Kenyans draw water
from the resource dirctly and not from an improved supply.
These groups do not require a water permit and will not pay
water charges.
 Further, the draft rules provide for the protection of
resources from uncontrolled exploitation by large
abstractors, thereby guaranteeing flows in all perennial
rivers.
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Where and how do you get a water permit and how much does it
cost?
 You do not require the services of a middleman, broker or third party
in order to get a permit. Apply directly to your regional or sub-regional
office of the WRMA.
 The cost of a water permit depends on the category of permit applied
for. Water uses have been classified into A, B, C and D depending on
a number of factors including how much water is needed and the
impact the activity is likely to have on the water resource.
 Category A use will generally be deemed to have a low risk of
impacting the water resource and will be exempted from paying
water user charges. The rates for Category B, C and D permit
holders are indicated in the draft rules.
 Any payment to be made is communicated after computation. A
receipt is issued for all payments made.
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What appeal mechanisms are in place in-case services
provided are unsatisfactory?
If a water user feels that WRMA has
unsatisfactorily served or denied a customer
service, then the client should:
 File a complaint to the WRMA Office.
 The draft rules require the regional office to
respond to client complaints within 21 days.
 A copy of the complaint should also be sent to the
WRMA Chief Executive Officer in Nairobi.
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Are there any penalties for non-compliance with the draft
rules?
 Under the Water Act 2002, the WRMA is
empowered to take specified actions against
specific violations of the rules and regulations
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Why do you have to pay water use charges when you are already
paying taxes
 Water use charges is one way of making water users
treat water as a valuable and limited resource and
therefore encourage them to use the resource efficiently
and sparingly.
 Funds so collected will be ploughed back to support
catchment protection, pollution control and in monitoring
the resource as well as its use.
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Where can the draft rules be obtained from?
The draft rules are available for public inspection at the following
offices:
 Ministry of Water and Irrigation Maji House library,
 All District Water Offices,
 the WRMA headquarters
 All regional WRMA offices which are located in Kakamega, Kisumu,
 Nakuru, Machakos, Nanyuki and Embu.
The draft rules have been developed through stakeholder participation
through aseries of consultative workshops with stakeholders in all the
regional WRMA catchment areas as well as a National stakeholders
consultative forum held in Karen KCB Management Centre from 29th to
30th August, 2006.
Comments from such workshops are being incorporated in the draft
rules to produce the final rules for gazettement and implementation.
Comments on the draft rules are still welcome.
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The full Draft Rules document is available for
comment by stakeholders free of charge from
our offices country-wide.
Thanks for your patience
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