The Tana River County government has purchased a water rig worth Sh.70 million to drill boreholes to curb water shortage experienced in the semi-arid county.
Addressing a gathering at Handampia village in Galole Sub County on Saturday, the Tana River County government Executive Committee member for Water, Energy, Environment and Natural resources, Hassan Dube said the purchasing of the water rig was a big move for the county government’s plans to provide clean water.
“With this machine, we will be able to drill boreholes in those areas facing severe water shortage. We are planning to provide clean water to the residents, their animals and for irrigation too,” Dube said.
He also said the machine would help reduce the cost the county government incurred in drilling water boreholes from private contractors.
“We used to pay about Sh.5million to Sh.6 million to private drillers to drill a single borehole. Now that we have our machine, it will cost us around one million or even less,” Dube added.
Dube said the availability of the water rig would enable the county government to drill more water boreholes in Tana North and Galole Sub counties, which were heavily hit by drought and a serious water shortage.
He further said that his department would employ private machine operators on contract bases to operate the machine for a period of six months, as they waited to secure permanent operators.
The water rig was put to test on Thursday at Handampia village, Galole Sub County, in Tana River County, where one water borehole was drilled.
By Felix Mulu/Simon Guruba
