•Rampant in illegal settlements where there are no sewer facilities
•The illegal connections could potentially mix the otherwise clean water with raw sewage.
Nairobi residents are staring at a looming public health crisis due to massive illegal water connections.
Rampant in informal settlements where there are no sewer facilities, the illegal connections could potentially mix clean water with raw sewage.
On Friday, Water PS Dr Paul Rono said there were close to 130 illegal connections in the line serving Lang'ata residents, High Rise, Ngei and some parts of Kibera.
“The people of Lang'ata, Kibera, Ngei estate and other estates surrounding the two wards have been having challenges getting regular supply of water because the infrastructure was damaged and there were so many illegal connections, close to 130 illegal connections,” he said.
The water pipeline from Kabete to Lang'ata through Kibera was rehabilitated from May to August.
The 1.2 km pipeline has now been covered with concrete to curb illegal connections.
Before the concrete work, the Nairobi City Water and Sewage Company could not account for 10,000m3/day of water in the area.
The PS assured residents of clean and safe water following the rehabilitation exercise.
Rono said other areas in the city are also affected by illegal connections.
The PS said Embakasi line, Kawangware and the rest of the city lines will be rehabilitated to improve supply.
Studies by the government have shown that Kenya loses Sh10 billion per year through non-revenue water.
Rono acknowledged that most sewer lines within the city are old and need fixing.
He had on July 18 said that modern technologies will be adopted so that wastewater can be treated and used for irrigation.
The PS said a million cubic metres of water supplied to Nairobi requires close to 750,000 cubic metres of sewerage facility.
“At present, we are talking about a capacity of sewerage in Nairobi that is close to 200,000 compared to the amount of water, which is 525,000 cubic metres of water per day. That is not adequate.”
“That is why sometimes we have spillages of sewage due to inadequate facilities to support the slum areas and other areas where we have had mushrooming buildings,” Rono said.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has raised alarm about the safety of the water that will be fed into the Sh82 billion Thwake dam.
She said the dam’s main supply will be Athi River whose main tributary is the Nairobi River, which is polluted with heavy metals.
The auditor said the dam may turn out to be a white elephant because of polluted, unsafe water.
An environmental and social impact assessment of the project warned that the water would be hard to tr6eat owing to the pollutants.
It cites problems of residual faecal and organic matter from pit latrines, graveyards and waste holding sites from displaced homesteads and social locations.
The situation undermine the health of people and animals drinking he water.
Gathungu said the Water ministry has not taken corrective measures to ensure the water is safe.
About two million people from Lower Eastern are planning to use the dam to end their water shortage problem.
Nairobi has more than 300 boreholes, far above the capacity.
“We may not need to drill more boreholes in Nairobi because we intend to bring fresh water to Nairobi,” Rono said.
Rono said there are 140,000 cubic metres of water that will come daily once the northern collector has been completed at the end of the year.
“A dam called Maragua 4 will give us 140,000 cubic metres, Ruiru will give us 40,000 cubic metres, Karumenu will give us 70,000 cubic metres of water,” Rono said.
Nairobi City Water and Sewage Company is currently producing 525,000 cubic metres per day against a demand of 850 million litres, leaving a shortfall of 325 million litres.
Out of the water supplied, 300,000 cubic metres are lost daily through leaks also known as non-revenue water (unaccounted water). Nairobi, according to the water master plan, will require 1.2 billion litres of water daily by 2035.
The city county gets its daily supply from four main sources: Kikuyu Springs, Ruiru 1 Dam, Sasumua Dam, Ndakaini Dam and Ng'ethu.
Nairobi county gets its daily supply from four main sources — Kikuyu Springs, Ruiru 1 Dam, Sasumua Dam, Ndakaini Dam and Ng'ethu.
Rono said they make sure that the quality of water from boreholes is taken care of.
However, aged sewer lines may not be guaranteeing the safety of water from boreholes.
NCWSC plays a key role in the wastewater management in the city by regulating trade effluent discharge, regulating private exhausters, operating and maintaining sewers and by offering exhauster services in non-sewered areas upon request.
The company has treatment plants for wastewater in Ruai and Kariobangi and the Ponds in Karen and Kahawa Sukari.