Members of the Nyandarua County Assembly want a probe into high water tariffs imposed on residents of Ol Kalou Township and its residents, despite heavy investment in water projects.
Ol Kalou MCA Stephen Mureithi, noted that the County Government has drilled boreholes in the area and sourced more water directly from the Aberdare Ranges, but this is no reprieve for the residents.
“Both national and county governments have been working to ensure the residents of the town were well supplied with water for domestic and agricultural use. We are, however, concerned that the tariffs have now hiked from Shs.200 to shs.500 yet no reason has been given to substantiate the rise,” noted Mureithi.
The department of Water and Sanitation has undertaken an sh 684 million water and Sewerage project which was to see the residents supplied with an additional 3, 700 cubic meters of water a day. The project is yet to be handed over to the county.
“It would also be of interest to the people of Ol Kalou to know whether these boreholes and water projects undertaken by Ol Kalou Water and Sanitation Company within Ol Kalou and its environs have been handed over to the County government for management by Nyandarua Water and Sanitation Company, NYANDAWAS,” noted Mureithi.
“Every person has a right to clean and safe water. Ol Kalou Water and Sanitation Company has been supplying water from boreholes using electric pumps but now we have water flowing by gravity to the Town, yet the tariffs are still high,” noted Mureithi, regretting that no public participation was done to inform the hike.
Leshau-Karagoini water project too, he said, had failed to serve the residents of Ndaragwa constituency, noting that the semi-arid area needed a boost in water for irrigation.
Mureithi questioned the status of boreholes drilled across the county by the Ministry of Water under the leadership of former Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki, noting that the projects, upon being handed over to the County should have lessened water shortage for residents.
Speaker Steve Waiganjo, during last week’s Thursday’s sitting of the County Assembly, had ordered the House’s Water Committee Chairperson, Isaac Mbae to look into issues of water supply in the county regretting that Nyandarua despite being a water tower had no water for its residents.
Former County Executive Member for Water Milka Wanjiru, and currently MCA for Kiriita ward, informed the House that Water Services Regulatory Board (WASREB) regulations required residents to requisition funds for water projects through public participation.
She explained that sh 684 million for water projects was a loan from the national government that has to be repaid and the only way to cater for the repayment is through tariffs, which are high due to the electricity bill incurred while distributing water at the Karagoini water project.
Wanjiru called on the assembly to request for a Draft Water Act that would come in handy, in regularizing water tariffs and water management issues.
