Bilal Muslim Mission of Kenya has launched a solar powered water desalination plant in Mtongwe area in the outskirts of Mombasa.
The settlement suffers from critical water shortage and the solar powered desalination unit will be turning salt water into pure drinkable water with the power of the sun.
The mission’s chief executive officer Murtaza Jaffer said they are determined to enable poor communities have access to clean drinking water.
Jaffer said they are committed to supporting strategies and enhancing the livelihoods of various communities through empowerment projects.
He said the highly-cost effective plant will be providing portable drinking water and drip irrigation to the communities around Mtongwe area.
Jaffer added the water desalination plant is linked to agricultural demonstration farms using drip irrigation and other modern technologies.
He spoke during the launching ceremony of the iconic solar water desalination system at its Al-Ritha Centre, Mtongwe courtesy of Borea Light GmbH organisation and the Irene und Friedrich Vorwerk Foundation.
Jaffer said the intention is to train the local communities to take up farming for livelihood, economic and social sustainability adding they (communities) would be trained to adopt modern agricultural practices on their individual landholdings in order to increase productivity and ensure food sustainability.
Borea Light Chef Executive Officer Hamed Beheshti said the project is dedicated to the implementation of green technologies.
He said using solar energy is ideal since turning seawater into drinkable water is a power-consuming and expensive venture.
Beheshti said the desalination device delivers cheap, clean water with just solar power adding that if scaled up the new technology could help supply households with fresh water for domestic use and agriculture.
“Many water plants cost a lot to run but with solar power, drinking water can be made available to a large population such as those in informal settlements,” he said.
Residents interviewed said they hitherto spent valuable time in search of the precious commodity and are now glad to collect it from water kioks at their doorsteps.
Mwanajuma Bakari and Mwanaisha Rashid said the water they used to drink was too salty and often suffered health complications but are now benefiting from clean water. “As a result of drinking contaminated water, we used to suffer debilitating waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery,” said Mwanajuma.
By Hussein Abdullahi
