Nakuru plans highway toilets to check disease outbreaks

Nakuru county officers tour the newly opened faecal sludge treatment facility. It will use human waste and saw-dust to create briquettes / GEORGE MURAGE
Nakuru county officers tour the newly opened faecal sludge treatment facility. It will use human waste and saw-dust to create briquettes / GEORGE MURAGE

Nakuru county government is constructing over 15 washrooms along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway to address the problem of open defecation along the road.

This will ensure that passengers and truck drivers do not relieve themselves in nearby bushes opening locals to the risk of disease outbreaks.

County director of public health Samuel King’ori says they are committed to eradicating the problem of open defecation along the major roads in the region. King’ori identified areas set to benefit from the toilets as Kinungi, Kikopey, Salgaa, Kivunja, Total Junction, Nakuru North, Longonot, Subukia and Keringet among others.

“Previously, the county had major challenges with cholera but we have managed to contain this and the county has set aside Sh15 million for the toilets project along the major road,” he said.

King’ori said of the 2,050 villages targeted only 390 had been declared as Open Defecation Free.

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