Where Does the Water Go?

A Small Thought from an Evening Walk by the Sea

By Moraa Nyangorora

During one of my evening strolls along the Kenyan coast in Kikambala, I noticed a stream of water draining straight into the ocean from a nearby hotel.

I

Water from a hotel by the beach is draining into the ocean

I didn’t think much of it at the time. The sea was calm, the air warm, and it felt like just another detail in a familiar coastal scene.

Later that night, while taking a shower, the thought came back to me. Where does all the water we use in hotels actually go?

Every day, hotels use water for showers, laundry, kitchens, and cleaning, thousands of litres moving quietly through pipes and drains.

Standing there, I found myself wondering whether the water I had seen earlier was part of that same story. Not in a dramatic way, just as a passing question that refused to leave.

When water flows back into the ocean, it carries traces of where it’s been.

Soaps, detergents, food waste, cleaning chemicals, even when diluted, eventually meet the sea.

Water is designed to drain into the ocean from the facilities by the beach.

Water is designed to drain into the ocean from facilities by the beach. The ocean, especially close to shore, feels these impacts more than we realise. Coral reefs, fish, and seagrass don't have a way of filtering what arrives; they simply adapt or struggle.

For people who live and work along the coast, the ocean isn’t just scenery. It feeds families, supports tourism, and shapes daily life.

Clean water means healthy fish, safe swimming spots, and beaches that remain inviting long after the sun sets.

A tourist examines a brain coral exposed in the Indian Ocean during low tide.

When water quality changes, the effects can be subtle at first, noticed only when something feels slightly off.

This isn’t an accusation or a conclusion. Just a question that surfaced from an ordinary moment. Perhaps most hotels have proper systems in place.

Possibly what I saw was harmless. Still, it made me pause. Sometimes, it’s the small observations that remind us how closely our everyday comforts are connected to the natural world.

What leaves our rooms, our bathrooms, our buildings eventually ends up somewhere. And often, that somewhere could just be the ocean!