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City estates to go without water for two days

By  Hilary Kimuyu

Nation Media Group

A section of Nairobi residents will go without water between Tuesday and Wednesday as a result of a partial shutdown of the Ngethu Water Treatment Plant.

The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) on Monday announced the shutdown to facilitate the interconnection of the new Kiambu–Embakasi pipeline to the Ngethu Gigiri transmission pipeline at Kiambu Reservoir in readiness to transfer water to Embakasi, Mihango, Utawala and Ruai areas once the Northern Collector Tunnel project is completed in June 2022.

The shutdown will start at 6am on Tuesday and end at 6pm on Wednesday.

Related

“This will facilitate interconnection of the new Kiambu-Embakasi pipeline to the Ngethu pipeline at Kiambu reservoir in readiness to transfer water to Embakasi areas once the Northern tunnel project is completed,” said Nairobi Water Managing Director Engineer Nahashon Muguna in a statement.

The shutdown will affect the city centre, University of Nairobi main campus, Coca Cola factory, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, EPZ-Athi River and Mlolongo area.

Others areas to be affected will be Lang’ata Road, Kibra, James Gichuru Road, Riverside, Westlands, Lavington, Kilimani and Kileleshwa estates.

Access to piped water

“We appeal to our customers for indulgence and also urge them to use available water sparingly as we work towards restoring the supply,” he said.

This year alone, city residents have had to endure at least six water supply interruptions by the urban water utility firm in February, May, June, July and September –all due to infrastructural upgrades.

Nairobi has been experiencing water rationing since April 2017 forcing most residents to turn to borehole water or that which is supplied at exorbitant prices by vendors.

Only about 50 percent of Nairobi residents have direct access to piped water while the rest depend on water from kiosks, vendors, illegal connections or boreholes.

But even those with direct access to piped water, only 40 percent of this lot receive water 24 hours daily.

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