Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has said perennial water shortages in the country’s capital will be a thing of the past by 2026.
Speaking during a church service at Deliverance Church International, Lang’ata on Sunday, the county boss said his administration is about to secure 100 million Euros (about Sh15.4 billion) for a water project.
“We are about to secure 100 million Euros for Nairobi through Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company to do the Northern Collector Tunnel II and Maragua IV,” he said.
Sakaja said the city will get an additional 220 million litres of water per day when the project is completed.
“It is possible that before 2026, water shortages will be history in Nairobi. We will be remembering that there were days there was no water in Nairobi,” he said.
Nairobi will receive 140 million litres of water daily from the Northern Collector Tunnel I.
Water will be channelled into the Ndaka-ini dam through the tunnel from the rivers Gikigie, Irati, and Mathioya. The French Development Agency funded the 11.8-kilometre tunnel.
The project consists of a tunnel, a treatment facility, and a pipeline linking the latter to Nairobi’s Gigiri reservoir.
Nairobi’s water demand currently stands at 810 million litres per day against a supply of 550 million litres per day.
The Northern Collector Tunnel I project provides an additional 140 million litres per day to the existing water distribution network reducing the deficit by almost half.
Put it into perspective, if you are supplied clean water twice a week in Nairobi after completing Northern Collector Tunnel I, you will receive water four times a week.
Water and Sanitation in Nairobi face problems common to many cities of the developing world which grow too fast.
The water supply is unable to meet fast-growing demand. Water is unreliable even to the small majority who have a direct connection to tapped water.
The city is also faced with the menace of illegal water connections.
Most illegal connections are found in lower-income areas such as Githurai, Zimmerman, Kasarani, Mwiki, Kiamaiko, Huruma, Kariobangi, Mathare North and Kayole as well as Tassia, Baba Dogo, Embakasi, Kware ward and Imara Daima.
