Scores of residents from Kahuro sub county of Murang’a are happy lot after they got connected to clean, safe and reliable domestic water.
Government’s interventions since 2019, has seen more than 2, 000 homesteads get domestic water saving the residents from using unsafe water drawn from rivers among other sources.
Kahuti Water and Sanitation Company (KAWASCO) received a funding of about Sh. 200 million from the National Government through the Ministry of Water to support procuring and installing pipes so as to reach more homesteads in Kahuro and Kangema sub counties, which enabled it to lower the water connection fee from Sh. 2, 500 to Sh. 1, 000, a move which encouraged many locals to apply for connection hence access commodity in their homes.
The company’s Managing Director Engineer Ephantus Kamau told KNA that they are targeting to reach more than 12, 000 homesteads once the ongoing water projects are complete.
He noted that after the company got support, it opted to lower connection and customer deposit fee to Sh. 1, 000 to enable more locals to get connected to clean water.
Some of the water projects the company is running with support of the national government include, Kairi – Gitaro, Kagaa – Kiria and Mugoiri water projects.
“We are currently implementing several water projects where as a water firm we are required to do piping which will bring water close to people. The national government is also doing a major water project dubbed Rwathia -Kagaa which will increase water volume,” said Kamau.
Lucy Metumi, a resident of Mugoiri ward expressed her gratitude after she was connected with clean water at her home in March this year.
Metumi observed that before the connection, she would fetch water from rivers which was a challenge considering steep terrain in the area.
“With reduced connection fee, I applied for water and within a short period, I was drawing water at my home. Availability of the water has helped to improve sanitation and spare time to do other chores.
“The water drawn from nearby rivers is not clean and sometimes my family could get infected by water borne diseases,” said Metumi.
Another resident from Irewa village, Ernest King’ori said they used to rely on harvested rain water which could not last for long.
“During dry seasons, we were forced to travel long distances to fetch water. Parts of our sub county are hilly; thus, it is not easy to access the rivers to draw water for domestic use,” said King’ori.
He noted that 15 years ago, the area used to get tap water under a community water project but stopped after pipes among other equipment were vandalized.
The residents further said construction of roads in the area also affected implementation of the water projects as some pipes were destroyed by contractors as they worked.
“We laud the government for rescuing us from challenges of access to clean and safe water for domestic usage,” said King’ori.
By Bernard Munyao and Alex Gathiru
