Residents of Mugira, Makuyu ward in Maragua Constituency have a reason to smile as they are set to benefit from a Sh30M water project.
The residents who have been trekking long distances in search of the scarce but basic commodity had to often contend with waterborne diseases and frequent visits to hospitals as the water they would fetch from the nearby river is mostly laden with dirt as farming and other related activities take place upstream.
Cognizant of this, Stephen Maina Mburu told KNA that he embarked on a journey to change the lives of the community that has grappled with a lack of clean water since his childhood since the area is part of the arid lands.
“One day in 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, I came home to visit my aged father but did not find him as he had gone to fetch water his age and the distance he had to cover to get the commodity notwithstanding” he reminisces
This inspired Mburu to drill a borehole to for his father to end the torturous trips in search of water.
Luckily, the 300m deep borehole he drilled sprang forth with a lot of fresh water in an area mainly plugged by salty water and since the water was beyond his father’s consumption he decided to give back to his community by connecting the water to them.
“I could not watch my family have water while my neighbor’s had none,” he says.
He erected a 216 cubic tonnes holding tank with plans of having a one million cubic tonnes underground tank underway and had the water tested at the government laboratory as required and it was deemed fit for human consumption
Moreover, Mburu sought the approval of the Water Resources Authority (Warma) and the Water Services Regulatory Board (Wasreb) and got the prerequisite approvals to allow him to connect the water to the households and successfully registered Mountain View Springs Water Limited with the registrar of companies in November 2021.
As part of corporate social responsibility, the Mountain View Spring Water Ltd proprietor had the water piped to some of the most vulnerable families ahead of the official launch of the project on Saturday.
One of the beneficiaries, 67-year-old Jane Wangari beaming with joy, notes that having clean water outside her house is a dream come true as her journeys to the river had become difficult owing to her old age and being her 2-year-old grandson’s sole caretaker.
“Carrying a Jerrican on my back and a child on the side has been very demanding but I am grateful that I will make no more trips to the river,” she says wiping a joyful tear from her tired eyes.
Ruth Wanjiru another beneficiary while urging the County Government of Murang’a to reward Mburu’s kind gesture to them by helping him pipe the water to their households paints a sad picture of their life without clean water for consumption
“We fetch water from Matumaini River which is very far from here, we do not even rear animals because the water we get would not be enough for the animals and ourselves,” she says.
“We also make trips to the hospital now and then because the water we take has been contaminated but with this project, our lives will be easy and we will become even more productive”
Wanjiru notes that their lives will improve as they will be able to rear animals and grow vegetables.
Once the pipe work is done which Mburu hopes the county government will assist in, the residents will only be charged a small fee for infrastructure maintenance which according to them is a small price to pay for having piped clean and fresh water for consumption right inside their homestead.
By Florence Kinyua
