PROJECTS UPDATE   Introduction Water programme in the Diocese has been in operation for quite long with a key objective of providing clean and accessible water to the community especially those who are living in the most water scarce regions. Among other objectives, the following are some of the major ones:- Reducing walking distances to water sources to less than 5km Providing clean and adequate water for both domestic and animal consumption which to some extend reduces waterborne diseases resulting from using contaminated water Promoting education in schools by bringing water near schools for pupils consumption and for use during feeding programes Improving nutrition through small scale vegetable growing near water points. This also improves the economy of the local community through sale of vegetables To achieve the above objectives, the programme has been involved in construction of various water structures to get/harvest this precious resource. The following structures have been commonly implemented in various dry areas in the diocese:- Hand dug wells equipped with hand pumps Earth dams and earth pans Sub-surface dams Roof water harvesting tanks at both institution and household level Rock catchment dams and tanks  Current programme activities Currently, the programme is doing a total of 17 projects for a period of 10 months from July 2008-April 2009. These projects include 9 hand dug wells, 3 water tanks of 50m3 capacity, 4 sub-surface dams being implemented through food for work and one rock catchment dam. This is being achieved with financial assistance from Friends of Kitui-Ireland. These projects are being done in six parishes of Kyuso, Zombe, Endau, Kanyangi, Nguutani and Mutito which have high levels of water shortage.   The programme is also running a project in Kabati parish covering Kathivo location and some institutions in the parish for six months [from Oct 2008-March 2009]. This project is promoting rain water harvesting from roofs by providing water tanks to both individuals and institutions without these structures. This project targets 47 households and 10 institutions giving a total of 57. Beneficiaries at household level are receiving each one tank of 6,000litres in capacity while institutions are receiving one or two tanks of 10,000 liters in capacity but depending on the need. This project is being done with a grant from Western Union Foundation through Diamond Trust Bank.    Projects Successes As at now seven wells are complete and serving the community with clean water. Walking distances to water sources have reduced significantly, beneficiary community have got time spared for other development activities, domestic animals have water within  near reach hence their health is improving Two water tanks have been completed successfully although no impact has been realized since the rains are yet. A total of 13 tanks have been installed at targeted households and the process is still on Through food for work strategy to implement some projects like sub-surface dams, the target community is getting food supplements on weekly basis for an average period  of 7 weeks hence relieved hunger and this is also contributing positively towards the projects since local materials are being availed with no much problems  Challenges Unreliable rainfalls leading some projects not have impact quickly as expected like water tanks and sub-surface dams. This factor is also affecting recharge to wells where water table is dropping drastically and its found that wells are going great depths than expected and thus becoming more costly The current food crisis which is affecting projects implementation. Hunger contributes to low community participation towards projects hence longer time taken than normal to do these projects. Sometimes it becomes very difficult to choose the best project suiting an area due to locality of some areas