Water rationing in Nairobi to continue till 2026

Rationing of water in Nairobi has been ongoing for more than a year. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

There is no respite in sight for the more than four million Nairobi residents as water rationing is expected to go on until 2026.

This was said by Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company acting MD Nahashon Muguna.

Mr Muguna said Ndakaini dam’s storage has fallen by 49 per cent to 34 million cubic metres.

“Rationing will continue until construction of two dams is complete. According to the master plan of water sources development in the city, completion will be in 2026,” Mr Muguna said.

Ndakaini produces 430,000 cubic metres of water a day, which is about 84 per cent of supply to Nairobi and holds about 70,000,000 cubic metres when full.

Mr Muguna said the situation had made the company to ration water but added that he was optimistic the county would have a surplus by 2026.

“We are supplying the city with 525,000 cubic metres of water a day against a demand of 760,000 cubic metres but we are working with the national government to come up with measures that will ensure Nairobi gets sufficient water,” he said.

Mr Muguna said this on Thursday when he appeared before the County Assembly Water and Sanitation Committee chaired by Mihango Ward MCA Paul Kados.

He blamed the water problems in Nairobi on drought, degradation of catchment areas and global warming.

He said on short-term basis, the county was banking on the Northern Water collector tunnel project, which will be completed by 2020.

“Once the project is completed, we will raise the supply of water in the county to 665,000 cubic litres a day up from the normal supply of 525,000 litres,” he said.

Mr Muguna told the committee that the two dams would boost water supply in the city by 60,000 cubic litres a day.

“Karimeno dam will have a capacity of 70,000 litres while Ruiru will supply 30,000 litres to us,” he said.

Rationing in Nairobi has been ongoing for more than a year. Residents now dig deeper into their pockets to buy water from vendors who charge between sh20 and sh50 per can.

Amid the acute shortage, the city has also faced cholera outbreaks.

In 2017, the national and county governments announced an ambitious Sh200 million plan to sink 40 boreholes although the fruits of the project are yet to be seen.

At the same time, former Water Executive Peter Kimori said the devolved government had identified three possible solutions to generate more water - digging wells around Ruai, drilling large high-yielding boreholes and collection and storage flood water during the rainy season.