•Nairobi City Water and Sewage Company MD Nahashon Muguna on Friday told the Star on the phone that the water level at the dam is at 88.5 per cent.
•This means that the dam is currently holding 62 million cubic meters of water against a capacity of 70,000,000m3 (70 billion litres).
Image: FILE:
The water level at Ndakaini Dam has risen to 88.5 per cent, Nairobi City Water and Sewage Company MD Nahashon Muguna said on Friday.
The dam is currently holding 62 million cubic metres of water against a capacity of 70,000,000m3 (70 billion litres).
“There is no cause for alarm,” Muguna told the Star on the phone.
Ndakaini Dam is one of the main sources of the water supplied in Nairobi.
Muguna said the water is not a problem now but the infrastructure has not been upgraded despite the city’s population rising rapidly.
The 2019 census showed that the city had a population of 4.3 million people.
The population in the county of Nairobi and satellite towns is projected to rise to 13.4 million by 2035.
NCWSC is currently producing 525,000 cubic metres per day against a demand of 850 million litres per day, leaving a shortfall of 325 million litres.
Nairobi, according to the water master plan, will require 1.2 billion litres of water daily by 2035.
Nairobi county gets its daily supply from four main sources – Kikuyu Springs, Ruiru 1 Dam, Sasumua Dam, Ndakaini Dam and Ng'ethu.
But the ability of most of these sources to replenish themselves has been overwhelmed by the just-ended drought.
The MD said the Sasumua dam is at 74 per cent, an equivalent of 11.8 million cubic metres.
Muguna said the Ruiru dam is at 92 per cent, an equivalent of 2.8 million cubic metres.
In April, Muguna warned of serious rationing of the commodity after the water levels in Ndakaini dropped.
By March 8, the levels were at 44.7 per cent or 31.3 million cubic metres.
In the month of April, the water level in the dam was at 37 per cent.
Muguna said the dam then had 27 million cubic metres of water.
Ndakaini produces 430,000m3 per day of water, about 84 per cent of the total water supply to Nairobi residents.
Muguna said the Northern Collector Tunnel in Murang’a county has started to rescue Nairobi residents as it has started collecting floodwater.
The tunnel that was once condemned by some politicians as "the tunnel of death" is meant to boost the water supply to the city by channelling more than 140 million litres of water into Ndakaini Dam daily.
The project entailed the construction of a fully lined 11.8 km tunnel with a diameter of 3.2 metres and is set to collect 40 per cent of the floodwaters that flow into the Maragua, Gikigie and Irati rivers.
Athi Water Services, which has been implementing the project, said Murang’a experiences floods twice a year.
The floods carry approximately 1.2 million cubic metres.
This water causes havoc to plants and people downstream.