Water they say is life, but this statement has a deeper meaning for Turkana people who put their lives at risk everyday in search of water for domestic and animal use. Among Turkana culture fetching water is a woman’s chore while men’s role is herd livestock and provide security. Water is a scare commodity in Turkana so women and children have to walk for long distances looking for water, years, rivers have dried up following prolonged dry spell. Kotaruk/Lobei Ward in Loima Sub County and other parts of the county,women are in a daily dalliance with death as they climb down traditional hand dug wells, some up to 15 metres deep to draw water for their families and livestock. And they do this the only way they know how, with up to 10 or more lining up on the walls of the well in a human chain or pulley to ensure that each single bucketful gets to the surface . This not only exposes them to the risk of the wells caving in, but also to attacks by raiders who have made the region their playground. Water covers 71 per cent of the earth’s surface and remains among the most important natural resources on the planet. It is vital for economic and social development and is indispensable when it comes to sustaining and increasing livelihood activities whether rural or urban. Access to water contributes to poverty reduction, economic growth and environmental sustainability. Unfortunately, with the perennial water scarcity in the county and other parts of northern Kenya, residents spend too many man hours in search of the commodity at the expense of other economic activities. Even more important, water is a central part of the basic rights for all people under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 2010, access to safe drinking water and sanitation was also recognised by the UN General Assembly as a human right, essential to the full enjoyment of life. It is ironical that while the global MDG target for safe drinking water was achieved in 2010, thousands of residents still have to put their lives on the line to access it, irrespective of the quality. It is a very dangerous state of affairs when access to water becomes an issue of power relations. In most communities, including ours, the responsibility of providing water for the family falls under women and children, especially girls. This, therefore, means that failure by those responsible to provide the precious resource only serves to compound the challenges of women, who are an already vulnerable lot in most social settings. Citizens should be granted fair opportunities to access to clean water and also use the water. Turkana County has been allocated Sh3 billion to boost food sufficiency through irrigation projects that are found in Naoros Irrigation Scheme (Turkana Central), Lotubai Irrigation Scheme (Turkana East), Lojokobuo and Kang’alita irrigation schemes (Loima) and Katilu Irrigation Scheme (Turkana South). A recent visit to Kakuma, showed that Kakuma is one of the driest, poorest place in Turkana County but has very many refugees from South Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia who live in Kakuma refugee Camps as it is safe. Providing water for the growing refugee population has been a struggle, until now. The discovery of vast underground sources of water announced in September 2013, has transformed the lives of these people. Since then, seven boreholes have been dug. With the drilling of boreholes, many though water would stop being a problem but the residents are yet to get the natural resource as the distance is still wanting, that they have to cover on empty stomachs. Being a nomadic Akal Longor had to trek 20kilometers to look for water in the nearby borehole, she said, her journey started at 6am to the nearby water point at Kakuma town. She managed to get one jerrican of water due to distance, her weak body since she had not had food for two days. Longor says that women have to walk for kilometres comparing to the fact that they also have other responsibilities waiting for them at home. “We have to look for water for long distances leaving behind other chores since without water nothing can be done” Longor added. The governor Josphat Nanok said that the water boreholes are not enough with the rising number of refugees. He also said that water levels are also going down very fast due to the nature of the soil that does not hold water, evaporation is very fast due to the heat degrees that are in the area. “We have boreholes drilled in the area, the water level is going down very fast due to the heat in the area so evaporation is also very high” said Nanok. ends.....