Water rationing to continue in Nairobi, Bomet despite dams overflowing
A vendor fills up at a watering point in Kibra.
Nairobi residents will continue to spend more on water as the utility company said on Sunday that rationing will last longer despite the recent overflow of numerous dams across the country due to heavy rains.
The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company Ltd (NCWSC) issued a statement informing residents that water rationing will continue as the company focuses on treating the still scarce water supply.
Managing Director, Eng Nahason Muguna, said the equitable water distribution programme will ensure that customers receive water at least once a week. And that the city is limited to the installed production capacity.
He explained that the county's treatment plants, which have a maximum production capacity of 525.6 million litres per day, face a significant demand of 900 million litres.
Although dams such as Kikuyu Springs, Ruiru, Sasuma and Thika Dam are overflowing, the treatment plants (Ngethu, Sasumua, Kabete and Kikuyu Water Treatment Works) have an installed maximum daily production capacity that restricts water supply.
"Our water supply to the city is therefore limited to the installed production capacity. This means that even when we have our dams overflowing, the water supply will remain constant. We cannot go beyond the installed production capacity," he said.
The four have an installed maximum daily production capacity of 440 million, 61 million, 20 million and 4 million litres respectively.
"The ongoing flooding in the city has washed away some of the water supply pipelines affecting our services hence causing certain areas to receive water supply with low pressures," he added.
Affected areas include Fedha 1 Estate, Infinity Estate on Kangundo Road, Tumaini Estate, the whole of Tassia, Avenue Park 1 and 2, Nyayo Embakasi, Kware Road Area, Kwa Ndege, Lower Plot 10 and surrounding areas, Ngomongo, Korogocho, Matopeni-Kayole, Brookeside Grove Westlands, Wangapala and Iregi Roads - Parklands, Cotton Road and Dennis Pritt Road near Jacaranda, Kahawa Barracks and Kenyatta University.
To address the gap in the demand and supply of water, the National and County Governments are developing the Northern Collector Tunnel Phase I Water Project which is due for commissioning in March 2024.
“The development is through the Athi Water Works Development Agency (AWWDA). It is expected to deliver an additional 140 million litres of water to the city per day.”
At the same time, the Karemenu Dam Project by AWWDA is in the final stages and will deliver 23 million litres of water per day by the end of this year.
“We expected that once the two projects are completed, every customer will receive water at least thrice a week,” Muguna added.
The national and county governments have secured funding of up to 15.3 billion shillings for the development of the Northern Collector Tunnel Phase II Project in Murang'a to bring an additional 120 million litres to Nairobi per day by 2026.
While the city grapples with water shortages, the national government reported that ongoing floods have claimed the lives of at least 39 people in the city with thousands more affected by the floods.
The delicate balance between water scarcity and abundance underscores the challenges faced by Nairobi’s water management in the wake of unpredictable weather patterns.
City Hall's County Emergency Response Committee on Saturday evening confirmed that two more lives had been lost in the last 24 hours due to floods.
Lydia Mathia, Chief Officer of Public Participation, Citizen Engagement, and Customer Service in a statement also noted that 20,968 households have been affected by the floods, displacing 147,061 people.
"Nairobi County is experiencing higher-than-expected long rains. This has led to flooding in most parts of the county, destruction of property, disruption of infrastructure, and increased risk of water-borne and vector-borne diseases," she stated.
Despite the increasingly heavy rainfall and floods, residents of Bomet town have gone without water for the last one week.
It follows the disconnection of electricity by Kenya Power to Bomet Water and Sanitation Company (Bomwasco) which has accumulated to Sh19 million in the last four months.
The company, which is fully owned by the county government, is reeling from Sh206 million debts out of which Sh133 million is unpaid salaries for the employees in the last 11 months.
“We do not have an immediate solution to the disconnection of electricity to our water treatment plant as the money has not been released by the county government under the subsidy program. It is a matter of wait and see” A manager at Bomwasco, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said on Saturday.
The county is leading among defaulters that owe Bomwasco huge amounts of money with the available records stating that by February this year, the devolved government unit had not remitted Sh129.4 million which had been budgeted for as annual subsidies.
The county government is also the largest defaulter in water supply payments with outstanding dues of Sh10.9 million.
The county is supposed to remit Sh99.6 million each financial year to the water company, money which was budgeted for and approved by the county assembly.
But out of the Sh398.4 million that was due in the last five years, the devolved government unit has only paid Sh269 million in the period.
As per the official records, in 2018, the county did not remit Sh8.3 million to the company, another Sh36.2 million in 2020 is outstanding and Sh44.6 million in 2021, Sh16.6 million in 22 and Sh23.7 was outstanding in 2023.
Residents have petitioned Governor Hillary Barchok to step in and deal with the issue to bring to an end the suffering faced by the consumers in the crisis that enters its second week.
The county is supposed to be releasing Sh8.4 million in subsidies to the water company every month, out of which Sh6 million is channelled towards paying electricity for the waterworks spread across the five sub-counties – Bomet Central, Bomet East, Chepalungu, Konoin and Sotik.
“It is ironical that whereas the region is overflowing with stormwater with rivers, streams, water pans and dams bursting their banks, taps have run dry in Bomet town and neighbouring trading centres,” Mr Leonard Langat, the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bomet branch chairman, said.
Financial challenges
Mr Langat said the residents and the business community have been forced to rely on untreated water for their domestic use posing a risk of contracting diseases.
The main reason for the financial challenges the company is reeling from, with the downslide having started in 2019, is the takeover of 14 community water schemes which are loss-making and difficult to turn around, according to Mr Cheruiyot.
Cumulatively, the 14 schemes make monthly losses of Sh 13,961.455 which after the cushion from the Sh 8.3 million monthly subsidies from the county government drops to Sh 5,661,455 million.
It has also been revealed that the company produces 4.1 million cubic meters of water, but only 2.0 is accounted for through metered billing. The remaining 2.1 million cubic meters of water is lost because it is not metered.
Out of the Sh 10.9 million unpaid water bills accrued by the county government, the Governor’s office leads the pack with Sh 1.274 million, the Governor’s residence marked as being at Kimage has not paid a bill of Sh 283,000, the former Governor the late Dr Joyce Laboso’s residence in Sotik town has an outstanding bill of Sh 87,000.
Slaughterhouses managed by the county government have an outstanding bill of Sh 1.2 million, while the Sotik stage public toilets have not paid Sh 94,713, according to documents tabled before the PIC and PAC committee.
The board members and management of the company told the Public Accounts Committee and Public Investments Committee at the county assembly chaired by Boito Ward Member of the County Assembly Charles Langat that the firm was heavily indebted with workers going without salaries for the last 11 months.
Mr John Cheruiyot the board chairman revealed that 166 permanent and pensionable employees have not been paid Sh 133 million in salary areas which kept piling up monthly.
The company has not paid statutory deductions including Pension Fund, National Social Security Fund, Kenya Revenue Authority taxes, National Hospital, Social Insurance Fund, Housing Levy and Value Added Tax dues among others.
