Plenty around, none to drink: Lake Victoria communities lack safe drinking water

Residents of Lake Victoria are grappling with the problem of fresh drinking water.

Many are having to rely on bottled water which is quite expensive.

The irony is the fact Lake Victoria which is the second largest fresh water lake stretches

It is not uncommon to find women and children carrying yellow jerrycans on their backs, or men riding bicycles loaded with water containers, in search of water.

Prisca Achieng, a mother of three, lives just two minutes from the lake, but she has to buy water from water kiosks several kilometers away.

“The lake-water is contaminated and produces a terrible smell, and that is why I have to buy fresh drinking water from these water kiosks,” said Achieng.

Today, even taking an innocent dip in the lake is not allowed, is not safe with the lake often covered with green algae plume, that has an itching effect to the body.

Meanwhile, there are water kiosks scattered everywhere along the towns – holding printed signs that read – 'Fresh Water Here'.

“It costs money to buy fresh water from these kiosks, or from the shops, and many families are already struggling,” says Jarvis Odhiambo, a fisherman in Sori, Migori county.

“It still confuses me —that I live beside one of the largest freshwater lakes and still have to buy water to drink,” said Odhiambo – who as a child would scoop water straight from the lake with his little bare hands.

Residents believe that the lake has changed its face. It is no longer what it used to be.

Some blame it on mushrooming of industries, directing waste into the lake. Others blame it on from growing towns near the lake, and boat leaks.

The traditional clay pots are gone, life has changed and many are thirsty.

Residents want stakeholders, and the county governments along Lake Victoria to look into the situation.