NMS takes fight to cartels with water hailing app

In the latest crackdown in 2019, City Hall unearthed 1,834 illegal water connections and arrested and prosecuted 232 people. Most of the illegal connections were discovered in Githurai, Zimmerman, Kasarani, Mwiki, Kiamaiko, Huruma, Kariobangi North and South, Mathare North, Baba Dogo, Kayole, Tassia, Embakasi, Kware ward and Imara Daima.

Their activities have seen residents in most of these estates pay as high as Sh50 for a 20 litre jerrican of water compared to others with piped water supplied by the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company and which pay Sh2 for a similar volume.

However, the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) reckons it has found a solution to the cartels menace. Together with the Ministry of Water, it is developing an application (App) to lock the extortionist gangs out of the water vending business.

NMS Director General Mohamed Badi said the App will operate like the Uber platform where a resident is able to order for water from bowsers near them.

When users log into the App, they will see the number of water bowsers available in a specific area, where they can collect water and the amount to be paid for the volume queried.

“With the App, you will be able to order for water bowsers just like you do for an Uber ride. Once you log into the App it show you where the vendor has sourced the their water to ensure safety,” said Maj Gen Badi.

“This will eliminate the exorbitant prices charged by water vendors across the capital city as well as make sure there is a standard way of ordering for the water as and when one needs is at home,” he added.

The NMS boss said the move was a response to concerns from residents, mostly from low income neighbourhoods who pay the highest cost for water delivery by the vendors.

NMS reckons with the App, it will be able to deliver up to Sh18 in cost savings to these residents.

As part of the app, NMS has been working with the Water Services Regulatory Board (Wasreb) to register and monitor vendors and bowser operations in the city with a view of regulating the cost and quality of water.

Through a Kenya Gazette notice on June 8, 2020, all water vendors using bowsers within metropolitan area are required to apply for registration and undergo strict vetting and licensing before being given the go-ahead to operate.

At the end of the exercise that ran between June 17 and July 2, 2020, the service providers were issued with a compliance certificate. Those found without the document risk arrest and prosecution.

In the new measures, owners of the water bowsers will have to provide a quality certificate of the source of water issued by a certified government laboratory.

Additionally, to enhance transparency, the name of the business owner as well as his or her telephone number shall clearly be marked with 75mm letters on both sides of the tanker, which should be painted sky blue and the interior lined with food bitumen while the tanker’s body should be devoid of rust.

This is in addition to being fitted with a water sampling point and the tanker volume clearly indicated on the body of the tank and have a graduated level indicator on the side as well as the bowsers having a 600mm circular lockable inspection chamber.

“This is one way of ensuring we bring back sense in that sector. It is not easy but we are getting there,” said Maj-Gen Badi.

The NMS boss said during registration the vendors were required to indicate where they source their water and a daily fee charged to those supplied by Nairobi Water nad Sewerage Company.

The registered water bowsers are also inspected by water inspectors from the Nairobi Water Services and the Ministry of Water to ensure safety, said Mr Badi.

“That way, we will be able to know where they source their water and if it is from Nairobi Water then they are charged daily for the volume they deliver. Before they used to take the same city water free of charge and then sell it to the mwananchi but now with the registration, they have to indicate their source of water,” he explained.

The water cartels have continued to thrive by taking advantage of the rickety water infrastructure put up in 1970s. To minimise illegal connections, NMS has embarked on upgrading the city’s water infrastructure using funding from the World Bank. Besides cutting off cartels, NMS is banking on the project to seal leakages that lead to wastage of millions of cubic metres of water annually in Nairobi.

This, it added, is a crucial step to ensuring there is enough water for every resident especially as the population nears five million, a sharp rise from 859, 000 when the main reservoirs were constructed in the 1980s.

Nairobi sources its water from Ndakaini, Sasumua and Ruiru Dams– with capacities of 70 million, 15.91 million and 2.98 million cubic metres of water respectively – and Kikuyu Springs.

Against a demand of 810, 000 cubic metres per day, the installed water treatment system in the city can only process 526,000 cubic metres with the demand estimated to be increasing by 20, 000 cubic metres per year, highlighting the urgency.

In the medium term, NMS has dug 193 boreholes as well as having 22 water bowsers to supply water for distribution to the disadvantaged and informal areas. The boreholes have been fitted with 100,000-litre stainless steel water tanks, pumps and water kiosks.

“The boreholes are manned by youth from the specific areas to ensure cartels who operate in the areas do not fetch water for sale. The youth also control the distribution of water within their area and since they know all the inhabitants, this is an efficient way of supplying water to the areas without going to other places.”