Greetings to my fellow utility operators and residents of this country!

It is with great pleasure that I take this early opportunity to thank you for taking time to visit this site. As you will note, we are a representative umbrella organization of growing number of water utilities both urban municipal systems and the rural. We are also welcoming other private and non – state actors who have an interest to support the provision of water and sanitation to become part of us. This may include the private sector, the non-governmental and civic organizations. We are looking forward to enhanced private sector engagement for investments, for modernization of infrastructure and management styles.

Besides, I wish to commend all the utilities who are complying with the constitutional requirement to meet to the provision of water and dignified sanitation as a fundamental human right. It is our resolve that together with our supporting partners, we shall gradually realize this right as enshrined in our Vision 2030 in order to contribute to social and economic development. As such we fully support the principles of affordability of services in a responsibly commercialized approach. In this manner, we shall mobilize adequate resources to fully finance operational and new capital costs while we modernize our existing systems.

We are continually investing in professionalizing the water and sanitation services sector. In fact the Association in conjunction with our partners is supporting various agencies of governments in developing sector standards and guidelines for use of various equipment, training programs and compliance to water quality and sanitation standards. For this reason, we are urging consumers to also be compliant to regulations and by laws especially those deterring water theft, theft of water infrastructure and contamination of water sources. The County governments will be enforcing very firm fines to those found contravening the legislation’s in collusion with utility operators or by themselves.

As we continue to implement the new system of government and as agents of County Governments, we want to urge that our consumers and beneficiaries of water supply and sanitation services to become actively involved in planning, decision making and oversight. This will not only aid good governance but will also enhance accountability. In becoming part of oversight mechanism, we remind other users of the environment and more so, the polluters, that we shall be advocating for even stiffer penalties for those who discharge wastes into the water catchments.

I wish to urge my utility managers to consider meeting to the targets set for coverage, reduction of water losses, water quality and quality of service. In so doing, we shall demonstrate to government especially at the County level that there cannot be alternative mechanism for the provision of services apart from ring-fencing the gains we have attained with existing established utilities. The citizens must be assured of our commitments to continuous improvement of services.

The region has witnessed the impacts of climate change characterized by changing weather patterns, prolonged droughts, and famine. Our water resources are continually dwindling with the effect that the per capita needs will likely not be properly met. As residents of the region, we must be prudent in our water use practices. We cannot afford to waste a resource that is increasingly becoming scarce. And as we are aware of the simple solutions such as conservation, we must now also embark on water harvesting, and storage.