They do say water is life, thus lacking it can instill fear in people. Imagine living in an area without access to clean water! Well, then this is the situation residents of Maralal in Samburu County are facing.
Residents have been facing acute water shortage after the Samburu Water and Sanitation Company ran out of water treatment chemical. Really? Can’t the County government intervene with the situation?
The residents say they’re living in fear of waterborne diseases due to lack of piped water to their homes. The problem has lasted for a month now and nothing has been.
“We are using salty water that is not safe, many of us have developed rushes,” a resident Peter Chege told one of the Kenya’s local dailies on Thursday.
Caroline Akinyi another resident said the cost of twenty-litre jerrican of salty water has risen from Sh5 to Sh10. This is after water vendors took an advantage of the situation. Residents are now living in hopes that the Samburu water and Sanitation company will soon buy the chemicals and rescue them from the situation.
One of them notes that the company was able to clear power bills recently after being disconnected and thus hopes that they will be able to buy chemicals as soon as possible.
“Recently we heard that power was disconnected but they paid, so we are hoping they will buy chemicals for water treatment soon,” said the resident.
Water shortage has been an issue in most counties recently.
Barely two months ago, Nairobi County was in a row with Murang’a County over water. The governors Mike Sonko and Mwangi Wa Iria were throwing threats at each other with Wa Iria even threatening to disconnect the supply to Nairobi.
Murang’a County’s Ndakaini dam is the main water supply to Nairobi but it emerged that Murang’a itself had a water shortage. The county thus wanted Nairobi to pay charges for water in what seemed to be sharing the revenue generated from water.
What do you think should be done to end water shortage issues in Counties?