In western Kenya, the Nyando River catchment is caught in a cycle of flooding, land degradation and failing harvests. Trust 2 Impact, supported by Partners for Water, is working to break that cycle. Not by fixing isolated problems, but by addressing the system as a whole and ensuring that those who restore the land share in its benefits. Co-founder Victor Langenberg and Kenya Country Manager Professor Humphrey Oborah explain why that distinction matters.

Why fixing one thing is never enough

As a systems thinker and water expert, Victor Langenberg has spent four decades working on water systems in Africa. During that time, he has seen forests planted that never survived, water pumps that stopped working, and agro-programmes whose effects faded within five years. “When I travel through Africa, I see the remnants of projects where 80 percent has simply evaporated,” he says. “That is heartbreaking. ”

The reason, in his view, is structural. “Deforestation leads to soil degradation, soil degradation leads to flooding, flooding destroys harvests, destroyed harvests drive poverty, and poverty forces farmers to overuse the land,” he explains. “For lasting success, you cannot fix one part. You have to flip the system; step in together and turn that downward spiral into a cycle of restoration, resilience and opportunity.” That conviction is what led him to co-found Trust 2 Impact. “We aim to go about it completely differently.”

A view from the inside

Professor Humphrey Oborah brings a different but complementary perspective. Born and raised in the Nyando River catchment area, he knows this landscape from the inside. Four years ago, he joined as Trust 2 Impact’s Kenya Country Manager. “As a native of the region, I can speak with the community in their own dialect and align with their sufferings,” he says. “But I also wanted to bring my international connections and education in cultural and human science to find a lasting solution.”

Together with a dedicated team, they are now developing a long-term landscape restoration programme in the Nyando River catchment – combining agroforestry, water management and innovative financing to restore both ecosystems and livelihoods.

For background on the project and its wider context, see our earlier article Restoring Kenya’s Nyando River catchment: how Trust 2 Impact connects landscapes, livelihoods and long-term finance here.

Seeing the connections

To get to grips with what is happening in the Nyando catchment, Trust 2 Impact starts with maps. Causal loop diagramming is a systems thinking tool that charts how different factors influence and reinforce each other. It reveals where a well-placed intervention can trigger a chain of positive change. “We map the feedback loops between water, soil, agriculture, income and governance to find where small interventions can generate large effects,” explains Victor.

“When we looked at the Nyando River catchment systemically, deforestation, soil degradation, flooding, poverty and weak economic alternatives were all feeding into each other,” says Humphrey. “So instead of simply planting trees, we integrated landscape restoration with livelihoods, regenerative agriculture and local economic empowerment – because communities are more likely to protect ecosystems when restoration also improves their income and resilience.”

The knowledge is already there

Working closely with local communities is central to the programme. Victor is sometimes frustrated by the gap between knowledge and action. “The knowledge of how to work with the land – how to prepare seeds, read the landscape and the water, restore it – is there, but it’s hidden,” he says. “It needs to come out and be taken seriously. It’s often locked inside communities and academic papers, but there is no structure yet to connect it to financing and markets.”

Humphrey recognises the same pattern. “In many cases, communities already understood changes in rainfall patterns and soil fertility decline long before formal data confirmed it,” he says. “What was missing was a structured platform connecting that lived experience to financing mechanisms, restoration science, and economic opportunities.” Trust 2 Impact aims to do that.

This connects to a broader assumption Humphrey has consistently challenged: that communities resist change. “People are not resistant to change, they are resistant to exclusion from the benefits of change,” he says. Once communities see a credible pathway towards resilience and economic inclusion, their response shifts, and the numbers bear that out. Today, more than 20,000 community members are engaged in the programme – a strong foundation for the 60,000 hectares of agroforestry and riparian restoration the team aims to achieve across the Nyando catchment.

If it works here, what does it prove?

The Nyando catchment was chosen deliberately. It is one of the most degraded river systems on earth, but it also has high potential for recovery. “If we can fix the Nyando catchment area, we fix more than that,” Victor says. “Because what comes out of that river ends up in Lake Victoria. Improve the catchment and the whole lake system benefits, including the three countries surrounding it.”

“If this approach succeeds, it proves that climate restoration can simultaneously become an environmental solution, a poverty reduction strategy, and a green economic development model,” Humphrey says. “Carbon credit and climate finance projects work best when they are rooted in community ownership, systems thinking, and inclusive economic participation, not isolated technical interventions.”

A model worth repeating

Replication across the Lake Victoria basin would require long-term financing, local capacity-building and transparent governance. But above all, a shift in perspective. “Most importantly,” Humphrey concludes, “replication requires seeing ecosystems and communities not as separate issues, but as one interconnected living system. That is the real lesson emerging from Nyando.”

This is the second of a series of three articles. Read the first article and stay tuned for more in-depth insights.

In western Kenya, the Nyando River catchment stretches from the highlands of Nandi County, down towards Lake Victoria. It is a landscape where farming, water and livelihoods are closely connected. However, flooding, land degradation and changing rainfall patterns have reduced arable land and are putting growing pressure on water and food security for many communities living within the catchment. Trust 2 Impact, supported by Partners for Water, aims to address these challenges through a systems approach combined with innovative financing models.

Working together with local communities, governments, knowledge institutions and partners, the initiative is developing a long-term programme for landscape restoration. Pilot activities are currently taking place in the Nyando River catchment, with a focus on agroforestry and riparian rehabilitation. We spoke with Ed Vermeulen, Managing Director of Trust 2 Impact and local community member Maurice Onyango to explore how the challenges are experienced on the ground and how Trust 2 Impact is working to address them.

Living in the middle of the catchment

Maurice is a small-scale farmer from the Awasi area in the Nyando River catchment. Like many others in his community, his livelihood depends directly on the land and on the river that runs through it. Located between the highlands upstream and Lake Victoria downstream, the area is increasingly affected by seasonal flooding. During periods of heavy rainfall, water from the upper catchment flows rapidly downstream. “We are in the middle,” Maurice explains, “when it rains in the mountains, the river breaks its banks and washes away homesteads, livestock and crops.”

Until a few years ago, farming could still provide some extra income. “With the continuous flooding, the size of the farm has been reduced,” Maurice says. “We used to sell produce. Now most people farm mainly for family survival.”

The effects of climate change also affect Lake Victoria itself. Invasive water hyacinth, thriving under current climate conditions, has taken over large parts of the shoreline. “It blocks fishermen and affects the fish we used to have,” Maurice shares. “We used to get big fish that could feed several homesteads. Today we get only very small ones.”

From ambition to action

Trust 2 Impact set out with the ambition to address the interconnected challenges of water and food systems across the wider Lake Victoria region, driven by the conviction that fragmented, short-term interventions are insufficient for complex, systemic problems. As the programme developed, however, the team realised that this broad scope was difficult to operationalise. “At first our scope was too wide,” says Ed. “All the investors believed in the aspiration, none of them believed such a scope was manageable from the start.”

As a result, Trust 2 Impact chose a clearly defined starting point: the rehabilitation of the Nyando River catchment. The programme is starting with pilot activities focused on agroforestry and riparian rehabilitation, aimed at restoring degraded land, reducing upstream flood risks and improving soil and water conditions. The ambition is to restore 60,000 hectares.

“In parallel, we are developing financing models that can support long-term investment in catchment restoration,” Ed adds. “We aim to bring different types of funders together in a way that safeguards the social purpose of the programme. The idea is that those who create value through ecosystem restoration benefit most, and that these models can be replicated as the approach scales to other regions.”

Working with complexity: applying a systemic approach

According to Ed, the challenges facing the Nyando River catchment are not isolated problems but interconnected systemic issues that need to be addressed at ecosystem scale. “When ecosystems are under pressure, communities become more vulnerable and resources start to run out. That is why you must address the root causes,” he says. “Our systems approach allows us to look at the rehabilitation of an entire ecosystem with all its complexity. But this requires moving beyond organisational silos.”

He adds that this type of collaboration does not always come naturally. “We are so used to working within the protective walls of our own silo,” he notes. “The entire approach is rooted in trusted collaborations, involving all levels of society, where partners work together on one shared mission and shared key performance indicators.”

Communities at the heart of value creation

“The community has received our programme with open arms,” says Ed. “They participate in all the meetings where we ask for their input.” This involvement reflects Trust 2 Impact’s approach, which places communities at the centre of the programme and views engagement as an ongoing, iterative process.

When Trust 2 Impact was first introduced in Awasi, the response from the people was hopeful. “The first thing that came to my mind was that help is on the way to stop the flooding,” Maurice recalls. “They gave us tree seedlings along the river and for agroforestry,” he explains. “They also gave us fruit seedlings, and agronomists showed us how to plant and take care of them.”

According to Maurice, this initial support is already making a difference. “The information and technical input we receive has helped put food on the table,” he says. “We can see better harvests.” For Trust 2 Impact, this link between restoration and shared benefit is fundamental. “In our regenerative enterprise, we are all shareholders,” Ed explains.

Success measured beyond numbers

In the end, success will be measured across social, environmental, economic and governance dimensions. “When communities can lift themselves out of poverty and ecosystem functions are restored, we know we are on the right path,” says Ed. For Maurice, success is tangible and immediate. “When flooding stops, the land that was lost to water can be reclaimed,” he says. “That means a larger area to farm, and an abundance of food.”

This is the first of a series of three articles. Stay tuned for more in-depth insights.

In Nyeri County, Kenya, a team of Dutch and Kenyan partners is testing a water technology innovation that could transform local fish farming. Supported by Partners for Water, the Affordable Recirculating Aquaculture System pilot project (A-RAS-2) is led by the Food Systems and Poverty Alleviation (FOSPA) Foundation in Africa, in collaboration with FOSPA-Kenya and Systemic Consultancy. The project addresses Kenya’s severe protein deficit and the recurring challenges of drought. Project leads Katrine Soma and Charles Mbauni share how it works.

A systems approach

At its core, A-RAS-2 offers small-scale fish farmers a water-efficient, nutrient-reusing, solar-powered alternative to traditional ponds. The pilot project aims to demonstrate that these systems can produce up to 25 times more fish while using only 2–5 percent of the water required in conventional ponds and providing manure for the farmer’s mixed farming systems.

But A-RAS- 2 is more than just a new water technology, it adopts a systems approach built on a deep understanding of the local food system and its interlinked challenges. Beyond addressing farmer’s needs, the project strengthens multiple links in the chain. It stimulates local entrepreneurship in producing technology components and fish marketing and improves consumers access to affordable, nutritious food. On a wider scale, it contributes to climate-neutral, resource-efficient food production with the potential to save over 216 million cubic metres of water per year across Kenya.

From research to practice

For nearly a decade, social scientist Katrine Soma has studied Kenya’s food systems with a particular focus on fish. She works at Wageningen Social and Economic Research and is the chair and founder of the FOSPA-Africa Foundation in the Netherlands. Working closely alongside her is Charles Mbauni, chairman of the Nyeri Fish Farmers Cooperative Society and co-founder and chair of FOSPA-Kenya.

“I have worked in Kenya since 2018, researching bottlenecks in the fish food system,” explains Soma. “Through FOSPA-Africa, Charles and I combine research and implementation hand in hand.”

Mbauni adds: “As chairman of the cooperative, I saw first-hand the challenges in water use, fish growth and costly technology. That is how the idea of an affordable recirculating aquaculture system was born.”

Transforming challenges into innovations

“Kenya, like much of the Horn of Africa, faces chronic food insecurity, mostly driven by climate change and recurring droughts,” says Mbauni. “Protein is in particularly short supply. When drought strikes, traditional sources such as beef and sheep are no longer sustainable due to their high water footprint.”

Recognizing this, the government launched the ‘Eat More Fish’ campaign to promote fish consumption,” explains Soma. Mbauni adds: “Demand for fish is high and far exceeds local production. In fact, 70 per cent of fish consumed in Kenya is imported.”

Against this backdrop, A-RAS offers a breakthrough. “Traditional ponds are about 300m2 and stock no more than five fish per cubic metre, producing around 280 kilograms per pond,” notes Mbauni. “By contrast, A-RAS can reach densities of nearly 200 fish per cubic metre, producing more than 7,000 kilograms in the same space.”

“This is an enormous difference,” says Soma. “It means more fish, more protein, and at the same time we release land and water for other purposes”.

Practical, affordable and circular water technology

The technology is both innovative and pragmatic. “Recirculating aquaculture systems are usually expensive,” says Soma. “We focused on affordability – using local materials, cheaper or second-hand parts and high quality components where essential.” The result is a mix of simple tanks and advanced yet affordable water management.

“The tanks are made locally and in a simple yet durable manner,” explains Mbauni. “At the same time, the air and water pumps are high quality and supplied by Dutch entrepreneurs.” A settling tank filters solid waste, which is reused as fertiliser. A nitrification tank with microorganism removes nitrogen. Different oxygenation technologies are being tested, including nano and microbubbles.

Mbauni continuous: “Each system has six tanks with fish at different growth stages, allowing farmers to maintain a steady income throughout the year. This enables them to reinvest in quality feed essential for water and fish health.”

Soma concludes: “In the end, it is high-tech translated into practical, affordable solutions. And because the system runs on solar energy for water recirculation, it is climate neutral,”

Consortium and partners

The pilot project builds on a feasibility study carried out by FOSPA-Africa together with AquaFarmingConsult and Wageningen University & Research, supported by Partners for Water.

In this second phase, the consortium consists of FOSPA-Africa, FOSPA-Kenya and Systemic Consultancy. FOSPA-Africa brings together research, implementation and technical and financial expertise to refine the water technology and develop accessible business models for scaling.

Engaging stakeholders

From the start, farmers have been at the heart of the project. Mbauni represents a cooperative of around 1,000 fish farmers whose feedback informs every stage of the process. To ensure diversity, five farmers were involved in both the feasibility study and the pilot, among them women, young farmers and a disabled farmer.

“Working with the cooperative means we know immediately what works and what doesn’t,” says Soma. “Farmers tell us: this is a good idea, that is not. This direct communication saves time and ensures solutions are truly practical and acceptable.”

This bottom-up approach goes beyond farmers. In Kibera, Nairobi’s largest informal settlement, local leaders, consumers and women vendors co-created solutions for fish distribution. “Our solution is not an external, foreign thing,” says Mbauni. “It’s embedded in the community, where people trust and support each other.”

Next steps

To advance the project, the consortium has built a new A-RAS-2 facility in Nyeri County. “This enables gathering of reliable data and refining oxygenation technologies, with the first results expected next year,” says Soma.

On this basis, the project aims to scale up across Kenya, moving from fish production to a complete food system with feed, fingerlings, processing and training hubs. “We’re developing financing models to make the systems accessible for small-scale farmers,” notes Mbauni. “The long-term goal is to turn proven pilots into a nationwide movement, with potential expansion to neighbouring countries such as Uganda and Ethiopia.”

Innovation in progress series

The Partners for Water 5 programme (2022 – 2027) follows several projects that received the Partners for Water subsidy from start to finish. Over the next few years, these projects will take you on their journey of testing the feasibility or application of innovative solutions to enhance water safety and water security abroad. You’ll be able to gain insights into their processes, collaborations with local partners and their potential solutions; as well as their struggles, challenges and their lessons learned. Discover all projects. 

In Kenya, 12.8 million people suffer from excessive fluoride exposure due to contaminated drinking water. This leads to health issues like bone deformation and discoloured teeth, as well as reduced job prospects. Now, for the first time, a consortium of four organisations has developed a unique, low-cost household filter that removes both bacteria and fluoride, without using electricity or wastewater. Funded by Partners for Water, this innovation seems to be a game changer. Nazava Water Filters’ Lieselotte Heederik and Marleen Ophorst explain more.

“Empowering households by giving them the opportunity to take control of their own water quality is the mission of Nazava Water Filters” explains Heederik, the organisation’s co-founder. Pursuing this goal, the consortium (consisting of Resilience BV, Nazava Water Filters Ltd, Harbauer Limited, and Delft University of Technology) has developed an innovative filter. It combines Nazava’s proven ceramic technology for removing bacteria with HAPaqua’s fluoride-absorbing unit, based on hydroxyapatite. Ophorst, Nazava Water Filters’ Project Manager, adds: “We believe in decentralised solutions that make safe drinking water – free from bacteria and fluoride – accessible to households in areas where that is far from guaranteed.”

Social enterprise with a mission

“Nazava is a for-profit social enterprise that has deliberately chosen a commercial model to deliver a social mission,” explains Heederik. “We believe this contributes to product sustainability and customer satisfaction. If our product doesn’t work, our customers will tell us. And if they don’t want it, they won’t buy it. The market keeps us accountable for quality and relevance.”

“Simultaneously, we are driven by a sense of justice,” Ophorst shares. “This combination makes us quite unique. There are very few companies in the water sector that combine a social mission with a commercial approach while focusing specifically on household-level solutions.”

Collaboration is key

According to Ophorst, the collaboration between the four partners runs smoothly: “Each organisation brings its own expertise. We all have a clear role and learn a lot from each other.” TU Delft contributes academic research, Harbauer brings fluoride removal expertise, and Resilience drives the project and oversees management. “We are truly complementary,” confirms Heederik. “That’s what makes the partnership strong.”

Why not reverse osmosis?

“Traditionally, fluoride contamination in drinking water is treated through reverse osmosis. But this isn’t a sustainable solution,” shares Heederik. “It’s expensive, energy-intensive, and produces wastewater.” The consortium’s solution is a true game changer. “Our filter works by gravity, completely without electricity,” says Ophorst. “That makes it much more accessible for both urban and rural households, but also allows NGOs working on water security to reach far more people, simply by reducing costs.”

Users at the centre

A major pillar of the project is involving end users. “For one month we tested our product among 50 households in Nakuru” says Ophorst. “Each week we asked them for honest feedback: ‘Don’t tell us what you think we want to hear, tell us what you really think.’” That open approach paid off. “Users even helped us think through improvements for rural communities lacking basic infrastructure and they also referred new customers who would benefit from this solution.”

“We remain in touch with our 50 first users,” Ophorst continues. “We’re still monitoring long-term performance; the amount of fluoride the filter continues to remove depends on the original water quality and how much is filtered.”

High demand and future prospects

Heederik and Ophorst have presented the project at various international conferences, including World Water Week in Stockholm and the World Water Forum in Bali, as well as events in Kenya. “At every conference, we’re reminded just how high the demand is for a sustainable bacteria and fluoride filter,” says Heederik. “We even received a call from a representative of the Nairobi dental association, showing interest in our product. That really confirms the scale of the problem.”

“People are recommending the filter to friends and family, and demand is growing,” says Ophorst. “This makes me incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved over the past year and of the whole team involved.”

A game changer in the making

Although the product is still in the testing phase, early signs are promising. “We have a solution that is scalable, sustainable, and truly meets people’s needs,” says Ophorst. “People are already calling to ask: ‘Is it available yet?’” The consortium has submitted a new funding application to test the filter with users from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.

Heederik concludes with a clear invitation: “We’re actively looking for financial, technical, and operational partners who want to help bring this game changer forward. So we can bring the smiles back to the faces of children in Kenya.”

“Too much fluoride in water can cause brown teeth and other health issues. In Kenya’s Rift Valley, people live with that reality every day.” Begüm Tanis and Guus Wiersma from TU Delft explain how they are working on a practical water solution to provide safe drinking water: a household water filter designed to tackle both excess fluoride and bacterial contamination. Supported by the Partners for Water programme, the project aims to improve water security while reducing costs and plastic waste.

Wiersma, project coordinator, and Tanis, assistant professor, both work at TU Delft’s Water Management Department. They are part of a consortium comprising Harbauer Limited, Resilience BV, Nazava Water Filters Ltd., and Delft University of Technology. Their shared goal? Safe, affordable drinking water—without the environmental cost.

Synergising proven water solutions

“The two components of the solution are both already existing technologies,” explains Wiersma. “We combined Nazava’s ceramic filter, which is highly effective at removing bacteria and viruses, with the HAPaqua system.” The latter is an adsorbent filter designed to reduce fluoride levels, using Hydroxyapatite as its base material.

Tanis adds: “The system operates with granular material through which the water flows, allowing the fluoride to bind to the granules. As the water passes through the filter, the fluoride is captured by the material, resulting in water with significantly reduced fluoride content.”

Addressing a critical health concern

The project targets Kenya’s Rift Valley, where naturally occurring fluoride in the groundwater often exceeds safe levels. “Most people in the region are aware that consuming too much fluoride can lead to health problems, such as brown or mottled teeth—also known as dental fluorosis,” explains Wiersma.
Tanis adds: “In the past, many residents relied on bone char (charcoal made from animal bones) to filter out fluoride. But this method has several drawbacks, including health concerns, inconsistent quality, and limited filtration capacity.”

“The impact on the daily lives of users will be significant,” says Wiersma. He shares that the initial response from the communities has been very open and positive.

Benefits beyond clean water

The filter can be used with various water sources, including rainwater, groundwater, and even surface water. However, the impact of this innovation goes beyond simply providing safe drinking water. “Currently, people buy bottled water when they can afford it. But with the Nazava filter, you can treat up to 7,000 litres of water,” Tanis explains. “That’s quite a lot.” “This saves households money by reducing the need to purchase expensive bottled water, but also significantly cuts down on plastic waste,” adds Wiersma.

Testing in real conditions

Rather than conducting tests in the Netherlands using artificially contaminated water, the team set up a laboratory in Nakuru, Kenya, to test the filters with naturally fluoridated water. “By testing on location, you get the most accurate results, because you’re using the actual water the filters are designed to treat,” explains Tanis.

The team collected water from two different boreholes, each with distinct fluoride concentrations. “We continuously used water from the same sources for each test, ensuring that the fluoride concentration in the inflow remained relatively constant,” Tanis adds. “This allowed us to reliably compare the performance of the filters under consistent conditions.”

The team also collaborated with Egerton University in Nakuru, where a local student joined the project as an intern. In addition, an undergraduate student from TU Delft spent several months in Kenya working with the prototypes and conducting water quality testing.

“It’s a great opportunity for students to work on applied, real-world projects,” says Wiersma. “The students supported us in testing two different prototypes and also conducted additional tests to examine preferential flow,” adds Tanis. “The outcomes of both the students’ tests and our tests were promising, showing that the filters effectively removed fluoride.”

Royal recognition

During a state visit to Kenya, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands and the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Reinette Klever, were also introduced to the water solution. “Queen Máxima’s response was very positive,” says Wiersma enthusiastically. “It was great to show them our prototype. The Queen’s interest could help raise awareness of the fluoride contamination issues in the Rift Valley.”

Looking ahead: scaling for wider impact

The team has applied for the next round of Partners for Water funding to continue testing and improving the solution before scaling up. “Initially, we’ll focus on Kenya,” says Tanis, “but the Rift Valley stretches from Ethiopia through Kenya and Tanzania all the way down to Mozambique. People face the same issue throughout the region, so if you have a solution that works, why not scale it up?” Wiersma concludes: “Ultimately, our goal is to provide access to safe drinking water for everyone, while simultaneously reducing the plastic burden on the environment.”

In Kenya’s Rift Valley, millions rely on groundwater containing dangerous levels of fluoride, causing serious health issues in local communities. Julius Kubai, Director of Harbauer Limited, explains how he and his consortium partners are piloting an innovative household water treatment solution that simultaneously tackles both bacterial and fluoride contamination. Funded by Partners for Water, their unique solution aims to transform lives and make safe drinking water accessible to Kenyans.

After spending two decades working in Kenya’s water sector, Julius Kubai has witnessed first-hand the challenges communities face with contaminated groundwater. From his office in Nakuru, he shares how his journey from drilling water boreholes led to developing innovative solutions for fluoride removal. “I used to work with the local Catholic Diocese drilling water boreholes for local communities. While doing so, we consistently encountered dangerously high levels of fluoride. This pushed us to do research on appropriate technology to remove fluoride and provide safe drinking water,” explains Kubai.

In 2018, Harbauer Limited took over the fluoride removal project from the Catholic Diocese. Now, it focusses on providing filters and decentralised filter stations using HAP (hydroxylapatite) filter material for households, communities and public water suppliers. Harbauer Limited, with support from a Partners for Water subsidy together with consortium partners Resilience BV, Nazava Water Filters Ltd. and Delft University of Technology, is developing a fluoride-removing add-on to enhance the existing and widely used Nazava Water Filter, which removes bacteria from water.

Severe health issues

“In many areas, especially the Rift Valley, groundwater fluoride levels are two to six times higher than the World Health Organisation’s guideline that prescribes a maximum of 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per litre of drinking water,” says Kubai. “The impact on communities is severe. Beyond brown teeth, which affects people’s self-esteem and even job opportunities, excessive fluoride can cause skeletal fluorosis – a chronic metabolic bone disease affecting bones and joints. Growing children are particularly vulnerable to these effects.”

Rift Valley where the fluoride problem occurs.

Innovative water filter solution

Harbauer Limited has demonstrated success in cleaning groundwater using HAPaqua, a special adsorbent that significantly reduces fluoride concentration. “We’re now piloting our fluoride removal technology with Nazava Water Filter’s existing ceramic filter system,” Kubai explains. “What makes our solution truly innovative is that we’re addressing two critical water quality issues at once – bacterial and fluoride contamination – at the household level.”

Testing and development

“Currently, we’re running parallel experiments with two different water sources. One in our office compound and one in a nearby community,” says Kubai. “The water source from the community has around 10 milligrams of fluoride per litre, while the one in our office compound has about 5 milligrams. This comparative testing helps us understand how the filter performs under different conditions.” While doing so, the project brings together the expertise from its multiple partners: Resilience BV leads the consortium, with Nazava Water Filters Ltd. contributing their established ceramic water filter technology. The partners are collaborating with TU Delft and Harbauer in designing and testing the new add-on component whilst ensuring community involvement.

Community-centered approach

“Our goal isn’t just to create a filter – it’s to develop a solution that communities will actually use,” stresses Kubai. “By June, we aim to have an affordable household filter that has been tested by the community. Their feedback on design and usability is crucial. We want to ensure the final product meets their needs and is acceptable to them before scaling up.” Looking ahead, Kubai is optimistic about the project’s potential impact. “Once we have a solution that’s both affordable and meets community needs, we plan to expand throughout Kenya’s fluoride-affected areas, making safe drinking water accessible to all Kenyans who need it.”