Busia County Executive for Water and Environment Eng. Andrew Meso has apologised to local residents for an acute water shortage experienced within Busia town for the past three months.
Speaking to the press after an inspection of the water points on Tuesday, Meso said, “I want to make a commitment to the residents that my team has a mandate to deliver services to them, failing which we should go home.”
He urged the local residents to give the department time and the necessary support so that they could deliver the services.
The engineer pointed out the disconnection of power supply as the main challenge, explaining that the system operated by Busia Water and Sewerage Company is purely dependent on Kenya Power for its water operations.
“We are talking of monthly electricity bills of over Sh2 million,” he said, adding that the amount cannot be sustained by the water company, which has to pay its workers.
Meso further said that the department will soon transition to using solar energy to reduce the cost of operationalization by reducing the cost of power.
By Salome Alwanda
