More than 300, 000 inhabitants of Mandera County have been severely affected by drought after three consecutive rainy seasons have failed. Due to this unusually long dry period, water bodies have disappeared and the water situation in the entire county has deteriorated, causing the pastoral communities to suffer terribly.
With rivers, pans and dams drying up, a great number of pastoralists have no other option but to move to distant places to get water and grazing for their animals. According residents, the few existing boreholes have become overcrowded since there is more demand than supply, and the possibility of disputes arising over water is very high if the situation is not addressed.
In an effort to address the drought situation, local officials have rented nine water bowsers that are now delivering water to 83 collection points in the county. This emergency aid is supposed to help the drought, affected households.
Local leaders have launched ground surveys to find the most appropriate locations for digging more boreholes to be less dependent on rainwater.
It is the consensus of the county and national government agencies that they are in communication with humanitarian partners in order to increase the scale of interventions and prevent a worsening of the humanitarian crisis if the rains fail once again.