No more water woes at Kibera hospital
Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman and other officials during the launch of a solar-powered water desalination plant at Kibera Level 3 Hospital on October 13, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Desalination is the process of removing salt and other minerals from water.
- The solar desalination systems are powered by a 450kWp.
Kibera Level 3 Hospital has received a solar-powered water desalination plant to provide the facility with clean water.
Desalination is the process of removing salt and other minerals from water.
The project, which is a partnership between Water Kiosk, a company that installs, operates and maintains solar water desalination systems for off-grid communities around Africa, and a German firm, is seeking to create employment for hundreds of citizens and benefit at least six million people annually with access to clean water countrywide. Twenty three other establishments facing water crisis in the country have also received desalination plants for continuous supply of purified water.
“We have looked at the gaps and areas we need to improve on in terms of our health systems and a project like this is contributing to that effort because we are able to provide clean water. The facility has a borehole, which pulls out water that has saline in it, and the unit cleans it up to a level that it can be used by diagnostic equipment, renal dialysis machines and for drinking,” said Health CAS Rashid Aman.
Water Kiosk Managing Director Samuel Kinyanyui said the project was birthed on the need to help hospitals access clean water.
“The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated even more clearly the essential role that hygienic drinking water plays for the population and the health sector. The project started in 2020 after the realisation that there was a big water challenge in some health facilities in different parts of the country. Health workers and patients were struggling so our mission was to deliver clean drinking water to them. We have so far reached out to 23 facilities in Kenya,” he said.
The solar desalination systems are powered by a 450kWp.
Some solar water desalination plants across East Africa sterilise wastewater coming out of different departments prior to disposal to the environment and together offset more than 10,000 tonnes of CO2 emission annually, being a great role model of climate mitigation practices in Africa.
