World Wetlands Day: Restoring Enkong’u Enkare Wetland for Biodiversity and People

During  celebrations to mark World Wetlands Day at the Enkong’u Enkare spring in Narosura, Narok County, the Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Hon. Soipan Tuya emphasized on the importance of protecting the environment to curb climate change risks. 

“My ministry, in collaboration with other stakeholders, have secured over 10 acres of land around Enkong’u Enkare in a bid to protect the water catchment area which is a source of water for many people here,” said CS Tuya.

Enkong’u Enkare, which means the “eye of the water” in Maasai language, is a water catchment area with two springs, cold and warm. The cold spring is called Olkina Oirobi while the warm one is called Olkina Olroua. The cold spring diverts to Ntuka where it supports four schools, livestock and households while the warm spring feeds into the Narosura River which supports a population of over 20,000 people, their livestock, about 50,ooo acres of irrigation schemes and wildlife. 

To conserve the spring from encroachment and degradation, the National Government built a water pan in 1982, an asset that is now under the management of the Narosura Water Resource Users Association (NWRUA). 

The water pan has accumulated heavy silt in the past, reducing its capacity to hold enough water for the people, livestock and wildlife who depend on it.  This led to a spike in human-wildlife conflict as well as conflict among pastoralist communities as they competed for the scarce resource. 

The water pan serves seven irrigation schemes, namely: Enkong’u Enkare, Oloiborr Oing’oni, Oloiragan 1 and 2, Nkoron, Olepolos and Nkaurak. It also serves Narosura town and other key facilities in the area, including hospitals, schools and government institutions

In 2006, the water pan was desilted by the Narok County Council in collaboration with the local community. Fourteen years later in 2020, WWF-Kenya also supported the desilting and securing of the water pan. 

In addition, through the Land for Life project, WWF-Kenya supported the redistribution of the water from the eye of the spring to a communal water point for ease of access by the local people and to halt further encroachment and degradation of the spring.

Working with the NWRUA, WWF-Kenya supported the development of water sharing plans amongst the users to ensure equity in access and cub water use conflicts.