Counties

Ministry stops drilling boreholes in Nairobi

water

Water CS Simon Chelugui. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Nairobi residents should brace for prolonged water rationing as the planned drilling of more boreholes stalls.

This follows Water and Sanitation Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui directing all borehole drilling activities to stop as the government seeks to invest in water sources outside the county.

Last month City Hall advertised for various water project tenders with descriptions including drilling and equipping of boreholes, water extensions and sewer rehabilitation. Njiru, Maringo, Uthiru, Harambee, Mowlem, Mihang’o, City Market and Umoja Two wards were among those to get new boreholes. City residents have had to put up with water rationing that started in April 2017 as Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company can only supply 504,000 cubic metres against demand of 770,000 cubic metres.

The county government set aside Sh360 million in the latest budget for various projects in the water subsector. County Director of Water Services Mario Kainga last year said that 18 boreholes were to be sunk across the county in addition to the 22 already drilled in Embakasi.

However, Mr Chelugui said that focus should instead be on repairing, maintaining and replacing existing boreholes.

“To sustain the few existing boreholes you have to limit their number per area. One of the licensing condition is to limit the distance from one borehole to another to 800 metres so that we do not have dead boreholes because most firms compete for supply from the same sources,” said Mr Chelugui on Tuesday at the Kenya Water Training Institute in South C, Nairobi.