During our routine sampling trips throughout the
Masai Mara National Reserve we are occasionally asked by some of the more progressive Masai Mara Lodges about
WATER. Some of the lodges provide water to their guests through the use of wells located within their property. We encourage them to check out this webpage:
United States Environmental Protection Agency - Private Drinking Water Wells. This webpage is very important because it contains a great deal of information on how the lodges can protect their guests from waterborne diseases that may inhabit private wells. To my knowledge, all of the drinking water in all of the lodges is from imported bottled water (
not the best solution). With that said, the rest of the water provided (showers, food preparation, etc.) is usually from a well located within the property, abstracted from the
Mara or Talek river or transported onto the property by a water tanker.
The Masai Mara is an area with a large amount of wildlife. All lodges that have wells should be testing them routinely for
coliforms.
This page provides many good examples of of other tests that should be done dependant upon the area that the well is located within.
Most of these tests are very inexpensive but they will provide your guests with piece of mind. If you want more information, hit us up and we would love to stop by and help out during our next sampling trip. There are several water testing facilities located within Nairobi or some tests you can do yourself such as
this method. Information is key.
The preservation of the Masai Mara is of the up-most importance. All of the lodges play a very important role in raising awareness and preserving the beauty of one of the greatest spectacles of the world. Get informed.
3 comments:
The best and most reliable thing that the lodges can do is chlorinate the water supplies and test daily for a minimum chlorine residual of 0.2 mg/l. They should test at different points throughout the water system (rotate the sampling point each day) and at the kitchen sink everyday.
Hi Steve, thanks for the comment. I know of several lodges/camps that draw water directly from the rivers and don't provide any treatment. This is never a problem for the lodges/camps until a guest gets sick but even then, the sickness can easily be blamed on a whole host of other causes. There is just nothing really out there right now driving some of the lodges/camps to treat their water if there is no impact on their profit margin. I say "some" because nobody really knows how widespread the problem is since there is no routine monitoring performed by any outside agency.
Hi Chris, Here in the U.S. I am an environmental consultant and at one time oversaw 40 water and wastewater systems. When we visited Kenya last year we were on a safari and seemed to be moving every minute. I really wanted to get "back-of-the-house" and see what the lodges were doing with water and wastewater treatment. We will be back next November on our own and I hope to spend more time doing that. Maybe at some point we can meet up. We had someone get very sick on the trip and the only thing she did differently that everyone else was brush her teeth with the tap water. It's too bad they can't take a proactive approach with a little chlorine. Thanks for all that you guys do.
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