LEX-FAOC111677

This Act provides for the regulation, management and development of water resources and water and sewerage services in line with the Constitution. Authorities shall, in administering or applying this Act, be guided by the principles and values set out in Articles 10,43. 60 and 232 of the Constitution. it establishes the Water Resources Authority (Authority), the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority, the Water Services Regulatory Board, the Water Sector Trust Fund and the Water Tribunal. This Act shall apply to Community land but any powers and functions conferred or imposed under this Act affecting land shall, in respect of community land, be exercised and performed subject to any written law relating to that land. The provisions of the Environmental Management and Coordination Act, 1999 relating to water resources conservation and protection and water pollution control shall be exercised subject to the relevant provision of this Act and only in the event that the Board has failed or neglected to take appropriate action to exercise its powers and functions under this Act. The Act consists of 159 sections divided into nine Parts: Preliminary (I); Ownership, Use and Management of Water Resources (II); Regulation of the Management and Use of Water Resources (III); Water Services (IV); Water Sector Trust Fund (V); Dispute Resolution (VI); Financial Provisions (VII): General Provisions (VIII); Transitional Provisions (IX). The Act is completed by four Schedules. Part III is divided into the following titles: Water Resources Authority; Basin areas; National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority; Regulation of Water Rights and Works; Ground Water; Entry on Land. The Act defines ownership of and rights in water resources of Kenya. The Authority shall serve as an agent of the national government and regulate the management and use of water resources. The may designate national public water works, i.e. a water works that is of national character. It shall include (a) water storage; (b) water works for bulk distribution and provision of water services; No. 6 of 2012. (c) inter-basin water transfer facilities; and (d) reservoirs for impounding surface run-off and for regulating stream flows to synchronize them with water demand patterns which are of strategic or national importance. A national public water works for domestic use shall take precedence over all other water works for the use of water or the drainage of land. Every person has the right to access water resources, whose administration is the function of the national government as stipulated in the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution. The Cabinet Secretary shall formulate a National Water Resource Strategy. The Authority is established as a body corporate and shall, among other things: (a) formulate and enforce standards, procedures and Regulations for the management and use of water resources and flood mitigation; (b) regulate the management and use of water resources; (c) enforce Regulations made under this Act. The Authority shall classify water resources according to criteria for the purpose of determining water resources quality objectives for each class of water resource. Criteria shall take into account trans-boundary considerations, strategic functions served by the water resource, the (potential) use for inter-basin transfers, ecological functions and vulnerability to degradation or depletion. Special measures may be applied to a vulnerable water resource or for the protection of ground water. Also the Water Storage Authority is established as a body corporate and shall be responsible for national public water works for water resources storage and flood control. The Cabinet Secretary shall by notice published in the Gazette designate basin areas and establish a basin water resources committee for each respective basin. There must be a representative of farmers or pastoralists on a committee. Each committee shall adopt a strategy for its basin. Water resource users associations may be established as associations of water resource users at the sub-basin level in accordance with Regulations prescribed by the Authority. Permits from the Authority are required for any use (there are some exemptions) of water from a water resource, the drainage of any swamp or other land, the discharge of pollutants and the any other purpose, to be carried out in or in relation to a water resource, which is prescribed by Regulations made under this Act to be a purpose for which a permit is required. The Act states that every person in Kenya has the right to clean and safe water in adequate quantities and to reasonable standards of sanitation. The Cabinet Secretary shall formulate every five years a Water Services Strategy and may establish one or more waterworks development agencies. The principal object of the Water Services Regulatory Board is to protect the interests and rights of consumers in the provision of water services. County government shall establish water services providers, the responsibilities of which are defined by this Act. A party aggrieved by the decision of a water services provider may appeal against the decision to the Regulatory Board. Nothing in this Act shall deprive any person or community of water services on the grounds only that provision of such services is not commercially viable. The Act furthermore provides for, among other things: control of trade effluent; compulsory acquisition of land; administration and functions of the Water Sector Trust Fund (aimed mainly at developing community and rural initiatives); jurisdiction of the Water Tribunal; and abstraction of ground water and respective works (Fourth Schedule).