Five thousand residents of Ikutha location in Kitui can now access clean drinking water courtesy of a Sh5.3 million project built from Coca-Cola Finland.

A nine member Finnish delegation joined the Ikutha residents at the launch of the seven kilometer Bon Aqua pipeline extension project implemented by the Kenya Red Cross.

The launch was officiated by Martin Osterberg of Coca-Cola Finland. Osterberg who heads the Ban Aqua (clean water) project of Finland, said deficiency of clean drinking water was a serious problem all over the world. He said the problem receives little media attention. He said the pipeline expansion was made possible courtesy of the Bona Aqua brand consumers.

"When a consumer buys a bottle of Bona Aqua he or she donates three litres of clean water to Africa," he said. Bon Aqua is the equivalent of Dasani bottled water in Kenya. He said the programme has donated 54 million liters of clean drinking water to Africa since it kicked off last year. The programme is expected to donate 70 million litres this year.