Some 200,000 homes in Kiambu county will get clean piped water when the Kinale dam now under construction is completed, Water Principal Secretary Joseph Irungu has said.
“This project will improve water sustainability in this area. We shall have storage tanks and a water treatment section,” Irungu said on Wednesday during a tour of the project.
The Sh14 billion dam will supply Lari, Limuru, Kikuyu and Kabete constituents with 500,000 litres of water daily.
Some Kiambu county villagers still fetch water from wells or buy it from kiosks.
Irungu said two other major dams will be built at Kariminu and Ruiru 2 to address water deficiencies in Ruiru, Gatundu, Thika and Nairobi.
The PS was accompanied by area (Lari) MP Jonah Mburu, Limuru MP Peter Mwathi, Governor James Nyoro, county assembly Majority leader Gideon Gachara and county Water executive David Kuria.
Mburu said the sources of rivers feeding big dams like Bathi and Ruiru are in his constituency yet only five per cent of his constituents have piped water. Those dams are in Kireita forest.
“Bathi dam feeds some of our residents with water and a few parts of Limuru while Ruiru dam feeds some residents of Githunguri and a small percentage of people in Nairobi,” the MP said.
He said it was regrettable that most Kenyans think there are no water issues in Kiambu since a reasonable percentage of water used in Nairobi is from the county "yet our rural people are suffering.”
The legislator was speaking at Roromo borehole, which Irungu also inspected alongside others and Limuru waste water treatment plant.
Governor Nyoro said he had asked the Water Services Board to gazette all dams so that the public, including the Kenya Forest Service, stops planting trees that dry up wetlands, riparian areas and dams.
Mwathi applauded the government, noting that it was now a matter of time before the livelihoods of local people change after they start practising agribusiness.
- mwaniki fm
