Aberdares landslide causes water shortage in Nyeri

Nyeri town residents had to endure over 12 hours without water after the supplier shut down services due to a landslide in the Aberdares forest.

Natural Resources Executive Timothy Ngunyangi said the landslide took place on Tuesday midnight, affecting the company’s water intake point.

“The engineers we dispatched to investigate the damage determined that we should give the river sources sometime to settle, to avoid clogging our pumps,” Mr Ngunyangi said.

Nyeri Water and Sewerage Company Managing Director Joseph Muchiri echoed the sentiments, saying the landslide caused the water to have a high level of soil deposits, which was too high for the treatment facility to handle.

“When we noticed water coming into the treatment plant was become muddy, we had to shut down.

“We will drain all the water from the tanks then refill them. This is likely to take eight hours,” Engineer Muchiri explained.

He noted that not all 150,000 households in the town were affected by the shortage because some residential estates had large reservoirs.

“Residents of Kiganjo, King’ong’o, Kamakwa, Mweiga and Mathari have water.

“Areas affected include the town’s central business district and residents on the Nyeri-Karatina highway,” Muchiri added.

According to the county executive, the delay would only be temporary.

“Water services in the town will resume soon. Residents should be patient as our engineers work on the plant,” he said.