• Stream water polluted when residents and livestock compete for scarce commodity.
• CEC says they have sunk another borehole and efforts to equip it with pumps are ongoing.
Mkonjwe villagers fear waterborne diseases and skin ailments due to persistent water shortage in Kwale county.
When the few dependable taps go dry, they rely on inadequate and unsafe stream water used by both animals and people.
they have to walk 10km to fetch water.
Saumu Mika told the Star they are forced to skip baths for a couple of days to conserve the little water for consumption.
Bedbugs have become permanent guests as clothes are rarely washed.
“We clean our bodies in shifts, meaning when you bath today, you spend the next two days without touching water,” she said.
They warn their children against getting their school uniforms dirty.
Mika said the community has not adopted 100 per cent free open defaecation, so rainwater washes all the filth on its way to rivers and wells.
“Some of the toilets are broken and people defecate in bushes and around the water sources," she said.
Community chairman Nyae Hassan said they spend a lot of money hiring boda bodas to ferry water.
Hassan said those who can’t afford boda bodas carry jerricans on their heads.
Water CEC Martin Kuya said Mkonjwe has suffered water scarcity since the main supply — a borehole at Vigunjini in Msambweni —malfunctioned.
Kuya said they have sunk another borehole and efforts to equip it with pumps are ongoing. "By next month everything will be operational," he said.
Edited by R.Wamochie