Nairobi — The water crisis that has hit Nairobi will persist, even as the government sinks 50 boreholes to mitigate the severe water shortage, Parliament has been told.

Water and Irrigation Assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri warned that if the short rains failed, then "the next conflict will be about water." The minister was responding to complaints by MPs that the on-going water rationing in the city was "so severe" and needed to be eased.

"No particular estate in the city will go without water for more than three days," the Assistant minister said. Nairobi's water crisis arose due to water resources that have not been developed for the last 15 years, despite an increase in the city's population.

The mismanagement of water distribution in the city, by the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company, has also been cited as among the factors that have led to the crisis. Embakasi MP Ferdinand Waititu (PNU), Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni (PNU) and Lari MP David Njuguna (PPK) asked the minister to ease the rationing programme to allow more people to receive water.

But, Mr Kiunjuri said the water shortage was just as harsh across the country, and as such it will be prudent to drill more boreholes. If left unchecked, the biting water shortage portends waterborne diseases like cholera and typhoid. A total of 250 boreholes will be drilled across the country to reduce the water shortage in the country.

The minister pointed to the debate over the conservation efforts of Mau forest -one of the country's water towers--as evidence of an impending national water conflict.