Rivers that flow from Mount Kenya are drying up, triggering an acute shortage of water in regions straddling the waterbodies. The crisis has impacted the semi-arid Laikipia district the most. To add to the misery of Laikipia residents, farmers living upstream are guzzling water by using portable pumps and refusing to construct reservoirs that could be used during droughts.

Besides this, the mass excavation of sand has also left the rivers parched. Local residents led by the former executive secretary of Kenya National Union of Teachers branch, Ben Ndolo, have urged the ministry of environment and natural resources to impose a ban on sand harvesting. Ndolo attributes the severe drought that has hit the area to scooping of sand from the riverbed.