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Success Story
Community conserves
the ecosystem while
providing access to
water
Water from the rock
Photo: USAID/East Africa
Kapsasian Rock Catchment gathers
natural rain water into a 50,000 liter
cement tank for the local community.
A USAID/East Africa project
provided water access to a
historically dry area by using a
giant rock to collect 50,000 liters
of rain water
The people of Kapsasian community, near Kenya’s renowned
Masai Mara Game Reserve no longer have to walk miles in
search of water thanks to a USAID/East Africa project that uses
a giant rock to capture rain water.
“The rock only used to be good for harboring monkeys but now
it’s our only source of water,” said one community member
referring to a troop of baboons that used to spend nights on the
rock.
The Kapsasian rock catchment is an innovative example of how
USAID has helped provide water to the communities. The rock
catchment is a vast, bare and exposed natural rock situated on
a slope. Now, as if by magic, any rain water that falls on to the
rock quickly drains into a 50,000 liter water storage tank, placed
strategically below the rock and connected to a small drain
pipe.
“We used to rely on small local water ponds that would fill up
during the rains,” said a community member. But over time,
those ponds became insufficient for the community’s needs.
To address the concerns of the rapidly diminishing life source—
water—in this unique but unforgiving ecosystem, USAID/East
Africa developed a ‘transboundary’ project, to help ensure
sound management and clean flow of the Mara River Basin, the
major water source sustaining the Mara and Serengeti wildlife
parks.
As part of this effort, USAID has also helped local communities
find sustainable, safe ways to access water without damaging
the Mara River Basin and its tributaries, while also meeting the
community’s sanitation and hygiene needs.
The rock catchment provides clean water for many families
living in the area but is just one example of a sustainable
solution to a natural resource challenge. Between 2008 and
2009, USAID provided drinking water to more than 16,000
people living in the greater Mara-Serengeti ecosystem.
Reinforced with hygiene messages, Mara River Basin
communities are changing behaviors that may not only improve
their health, but also protect and conserve their valuable natural
resources and surrounding habitat.
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