Solar power and borehole systems for Wajir's water utility.

The challenge

Wajir County sits in Kenya's arid north east, where groundwater is the only reliable water source and diesel powered pumping is expensive, polluting and hostage to fuel supply chains that stretch hundreds of kilometres. For the county's water utility, every shilling spent on diesel was a shilling not spent extending service.

The utility needed its boreholes equipped and powered in a way its own technicians could sustain: solar generation matched to pumping loads, robust equipment specified for heat and dust, and installations its team could operate without flying in specialists.

What we did

• Supplied and installed solar PV arrays engineered for the county's extreme temperatures
• Equipped boreholes with pumping systems matched to measured yields
• Integrated power, pumping and storage so water keeps flowing through cloud and dusk
• Tested and commissioned every installation against specification
• Trained utility technicians and handed over manuals, tools and spares

Why it mattered

This assignment dates from the year the firm was founded, and it set the template we still follow: engineer for the environment you are actually in, commission nothing you cannot support, and leave the client stronger than you found them.

At USD 912K it remains one of our largest single contracts, and it anchored our water and energy practice in the arid counties where that work matters most.

Water and power are development. In Wajir, a working borehole is the difference between a town that grows and one that empties.Omariman water and energy practice