Nairobi — The biting water shortage in Nairobi is likely to last longer even as the Government spelt out measures to address the problem on Friday.

To start with, vendors in and around the capital city will be strictly required to register with the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company in the next seven days to be able to offer the service.

Quality assurance

The vendors, who include owners of kiosks, must obtain water quality assurance certificates to be able to supply water.

The Ministry of Water and Irrigation has urged consumers to demand to be shown the registration and water quality assurance certificates by the vendors.

Consumers have also been advised not to pay more than Sh2 per 20-litre jerrican when drawing water from a kiosk as the ministry works out on tariffs that will ensure affordability of the product by all.

Water and Irrigation minister Charity Ngilu said on Friday that together with the provincial administration and Nairobi City Council, they would deal with all illegal water connections that result in disruption in water supply to deserving city residents.

"If anyone is caught they will be charged with a criminal offence in court," she said.

She spoke against the background that the water available to serve Nairobi residents meets only 60 per cent of the total demand.

Nairobi has been hit by an acute water shortage for the past one month and residents have been forced to rely on weekly rationing of the commodity.

Proposals for construction of the long-term new water source for Nairobi on Maragwa river have been submitted to the Ministry of Finance for funding.

According to the Water minister, this will double water for Nairobi. Its estimated cost has been put at Sh24 billion over the next three years.

The ministry has also approached Treasury with an emergency request of Sh400 million to enable procurement of 20 water bowsers to ease water distribution in the informal settlements.

Addressing a press conference at the ministry's Maji House headquarters, Mrs Ngilu said the comprehensive water rationing programme would continue to run to ensure fair distribution.

The minister also announced that the Government had started reviving dormant water schemes to restore the normal water capacity, and expects to complete them by December.

Most of these schemes were developed to serve communities and small towns along the main water pipeline feeding into the city water supply.

The completion of the dormant projects will inject an additional 10 million litres of water to Nairobi residents.

According to the minister, the acute shortage of water in parts of the country including Nairobi was bound to occur.

"This shortage cannot be viewed as unforeseen or due to drought, neither does it have any connection to the ongoing agricultural show in Nairobi," she stated.

She explained that Nairobi residents had over the years relied on water sources developed decades ago and now in poor shape, the last of which is the Ndakaini Dam put up way back in 1994.

The water shortage has further been compounded by the collapse of the Sasumua Dam in 2003. Although it has been programmed an emergency, the dam has not been reconstructed leading to a shortage of 12 billion litres of water.

"It is sad that such a long delay on this project which had been programmed as an emergency has occurred," expressed the minister.

Reconstruction work is, however, expected to begin next month following the award of Sh2.2 billion for the exercise. It could take up to one and half years to complete, according to Mrs Ngilu.

And according to the strategic plan for water in Nairobi, development of additional new water storage should have been completed in 2000 but this has never been done to date.