Nairobi Water Company to shut down supply for 24 hours from Thursday

The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NWSC) Limited has announced that it will be shutting down the water supply for 24 hours due to ongoing relocation of water pipelines along the Express Superhighway.

In a public notice, the water company said the shut down will be effected from Thursday 6am to Friday 6am.

“The shutdown will facilitate interconnection of relocated pipeline to the old pipeline at the junction of North Airport/ Eastern bypass road and Mombasa Road,” the company said in the notice.

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Some of the areas that will be affected by the shut down include Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), Athi River Export Processing Zone (EPZ), Coca Cola, Mukuru and Imara Daima.

Others are estates and industries along North Airport Road and Embakasi village as well as Tassia estate.

The General Service Unit (GSU), Administration Police Training Schools, Nairobi Inland Container depot, industries along Masai road and adjacent areas will be similarly affected.

Subsequently, the water company has advised their customers to use available water sparingly as they work towards restoring the supply.

This comes at a time when NWSC has been put on the spot after it emerged that it lost water valued at Sh2.48 billion during the Covid-19 period.

It has been established that the firm supplied some eight million cubic meters of water to informal settlements at the height of the pandemic.

According a report released by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, the company supplied water valued at Sh2.5 billion but declared only Sh16 million.

On Monday, Water and Sanitation Principal Secretary Paul Rono said any illegal water connection will attract a maximum penalty of Sh100,000.

He also said the government has stepped up the crackdown in 14 areas in informal settlements across Nairobi City.