MWR Sessional Paper No 1 of 1999 on National Policy on Water Resources Management and Development

Water is one of the most important resources for man's survival. In recognition of this fact, and in order to fight disease which was one of the three cardinal problems identified at Independence as being a hindrance to the development of the nation, the Government instituted Water Supply and Sanitation Programmes in various parts of the country to bring water closer to the people. The National Water Master Plan, launched in 1974, had the express aim of ensuring that potable water was made available, at a reasonable distance, to all households by the year 2000 through the establishment of water supply schemes, sinking of boreholes, construction of catchment dams and provision of the conveyance infrastructure in the form of pipes and furrows.