The Turkana County Government, through the Department of Water Services, has commenced the drilling of four new boreholes in Lodwar as a response to the raging floods that swept away borehole 9- Kanamkemers’ main water supply.
The initiative, based on a detailed flood disaster response plan costing Sh44.7 Million, was officially launched by the County Executive for water Patrick Losike at Nabulon which is one of the sites of the replacement boreholes.
According to Losike, the destroyed borehole was a single high-yielding facility with a production capacity of 90m3 per hour.
“To match the production, the County saw it fit to drill four boreholes after hydrological surveys indicated the impossibility of finding one spot with an equivalent yield,” he explained.
Losike assured residents of Kanamkemer that the County was doing all within its means to restore normal water supply in the shortest time possible.
He acknowledged that the response was a joint intervention by the County Government, UNICEF, and two USAID implementing agencies, USAID LMS and USAID STAWI.
During the drilling period, technical staff from the county who are supporting the process will also be conducting continuous water safety checks of the existing sources to prevent residents from possible water contamination.
By Peter Gitonga
