- The Turkana County Government in Kenya is in talks with Almar Water Solutions, a Spanish water solutions provider, for the construction of a water desalination plant at the Lotikipi basin aquifer.
- The plant will be built in the village of Nanam.
According to Tito Ochieng, the director of water services in Turkana County, the discussions are at an advanced stage and an agreement could be reached within a matter of a few months.
“The investor is in the course of validating a business that would involve privatizing the water and selling it to water companies, while promoting access to water for the local population,” he explained.
Almar Water Solutions is also involved in the implementation of a US 160 million seawater desalination project in Mombasa County together with Aqua Swiss.
The Lotikipi Basin Aquifer extends 4164 s/km in the northwest region of Kenya near the borders of South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Uganda. The aquifer lies about 300m below the surface and contains approximately 200 billion cubic meters of water.
The aquifer was discovered back in September 2013 by Radar Technologies together with the Kenyan government and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It is said to have the potential to supply the population with enough water for at least 70 years if properly managed.
The Kenyan government in February 2015,announced that the first tests of the aquifer had established that the water was too salty for human consumption and it would therefore have to be desalinated using reverse osmosis to be fit for human use.
Author: GBA News Desk
