Nairobians use a litre of water to shower

Those planning to move houses West of Uhuru Highway better be prepared to deal with water vendors and flowing sewage.

The water supply there is erratic due to a surging population that also strains the sewerage in residential areas like Lang’ata, according to Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) MD Philip Gichuki, who says that, “In these areas, we have met 42 per cent of the water demand.

Infrastructure was initially meant for small population but increased population has put a strain on service delivery. It is the same case in areas like Lavington and Kileleshwa.”

Lang’ata, Nyayo Highrise and Mbagathi have endured prolonged water shortage, so much so that some tenants have fundraised to buy water bowsers. Others stage protests along major roads.

“Sometimes, we don’t clean toilets and clothes when the shortage is acute” laments Brenda Sitati, a tenant at Nyayo Highrise, where a 20-litre jerrican costs between Sh50 and Sh100. Sometimes a litre is enough for a shower.

Gichuki says that most estates there were developed without attention being paid on water and sewerage systems or involving experts. This has made it hard to serve all the blocks and get the water pumped to apartments in highrise flats.

While water cartels have long exploit residents, Gichuki says NCWSC will source for extra 200 million litres of water to attain the 750 million litres required for daily consumption in the city.

“The World Bank has funded a pipeline from Kabete to Ole Sereni and this will greatly improve water supply to Lang’ata and in the next three weeks, we will install a pump for the Nyayo Highrise borehole,” promises Gichuki.