Water supply to Kericho will only be restored after the county government clears Sh40 million it owes in arrears to the Bomet Water and Sanitation Company.
The company is owned and managed by the Bomet county government.
Bomet Water executive Peter Tonui said Kericho county must honour an agreement to settle the debt if it wants its residents to get water.
Tonui said Kericho residents should expect to have dry taps until the bill is cleared.
Water supply was disconnected three months ago after the county failed to honour its promise to pay the outstanding debt.
The water company serves residents in both Bomet and Kericho counties but Tonui said their counterparts in Kericho were not paying for the services.
He said Bomet has always struggled to pay the huge electricity bill for pumping the water.
“We do not charge them any extra fee, what we only require from them is to pay the electricity bill which is the cost we are paying Kenya Power for pumping water from the river… we cannot be the only one paying for the bill yet we all drink the water," Tonui said.
Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony has, however, faulted the charges. He said they were not favourable to his county. Chepkwony said his administration was planning to put up its own water treatment plant at Chemosit along the same river.
Bomet, through Bomwasco, disconnected the bulk water supply to Kericho after efforts to have Chepkwony's administration pay the bill failed to bear fruit.
Learning institutions and health facilities including Kapkatet Hospital have borne the brunt of the disconnection.
Bomet sources the water from Itare River in Konoin subcounty. The river runs through Buret in Kericho.
Bomwasco pumps the water from the river to a reservoir at Saseta in Mogogosiek which holds up to 1.3 million litres. Bomet consumes 70 per cent of the water and the remaining 30 per cent is supplied to Kericho.
Edited by P.O
