Kenya: Nairobi water board sent packing, acute water shortages persist in cities

The entire board of the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company was sent packing over alleged mismanagement on 8 July 2009. A full council meeting of the City Council of Nairobi made the move citing unfair water rationing and illegal connections that have seen millions of cubic litres of water lost even with the rains failing substantially. The council fully owns the water company which was constituted in 2004 to streamline water operations.

Several residential areas in the city have not seen a drop of water for the last four months. The crisis has prompted residents of Kayole Estate to hold a protest demonstration alleging corruption in water supply and management.

“We note with a lot of concern that there are staff members who are involved in the cartels that have illegally connected water, worsening the water shortage,” said Nairobi’s Mayor Geofrey Majiwa.

There have been warnings of an outbreak of water-borne diseases due to the acute water shortage with some residents resorting to using water from contaminated rivers and boreholes. Since late December 2008, there have been 4,000 confirmed cases of cholera and 89 deaths recorded in Kenya.

Water vendors have been making a killing with a 20 litre jerrican retailing at between Sh10 and 50. For a 5,000-litre lorry, one has to part with Sh5,000. Ironically, these vendors buy the water from the boreholes for Sh500 for the same capacity.

The situation is the same in Mombasa where many residents go for as long as one month without water. “Despite paying monthly bills to the Mombasa Water and Sewerage Company, we have to rely on water from vendors,” says Michael Embasa, a newspaper vendor living in Likoni.

In Nakuru, some factories, including Flamingo Bottlers, Coil Product Kenya Limited and Kapi Limited, have been shut down due to perennial water shortages, while here also residents increasingly depend on vendors.

But the problem is worse in some low- income estates like Bondeni, Kaptembwa and Kwa Rhonda, where the residents are struggling to put a meal on the table. The water is sold at Sh20 per 20-litre can.

Ms Mary Kamau of Pangani Estate said the water problem had made life more difficult given the current hard economic times. “Washing my family’s clothes has become very difficult because the water is expensive,” she said.

“You do not know whether to buy water or food. It is even worse for us because vendors sell water in large quantities only, which makes it unaffordable for poor families,” she added and urged the government to intervene.

The water ministry is however optimistic, promising Kenyans that the situation will improve by December 2009. In June 2009, the government signed an MOU with the New York-based firm, EarthWater Global, for ground water exploration, starting Nairobi before expanding to the rest of the country.

Source: Casper Waithaka, Daily Nation / allAfrica.com, 08 Jul 2009 ; KBC, 11 Jul 2009 ; Sapa-AFP / IOL, 08 Jul 2009 ; Dave Opiyo, Daily Nation / allAfrica.com, 12 Jul 2009 ; Daily Nation / allAfrica.com, 23 Jun 2009