President William Ruto has revealed plans for the Northern Water Collection Tunnel to start supplying water to the city from next week.
The head of state made the declaration during a public address in Kawangware on Wednesday, March 12, saying the tunnel was set to resolve the persistent issue of water shortage in the city.
"I know we have a water shortage problem in Nairobi," Ruto said. "I want to give an assurance that in the next week or two, we are going to launch the Northern Collector Tunnel, which will bring 140 billion litres."
The Northern Water Collector Tunnel has been tipped to be a game-changer for the city, whose water supply currently stands at 525 million litres a day.
This is a far cry from the estimated 900 million litres of water a day, which is the ideal figure to sustain Nairobi's daytime population of 7 million people.
Nairobi, which has a population of seven million daytime population and five million nighttime population, requires up to 900 million litres of water a day to run seamlessly, but currently, the supply lies at 525 million litres a day.
The idea of The Northern Water Collection Tunnel (NWCT) was initially brought to life in 2015, and eventually reached Nairobi nearly a decade later via a 55-kilometre treated bulk water pipeline.
The Northern Collector Tunnel 1 (NCT1), which is an 11.8km raw water transfer tunnel, was completed in 2024, marking a significant addition to Nairobi's Bulk Water Supply System.
The supply system has been designed in a manner to collect 40% of floodwaters from rivers Irati, Gikigie, and Maragua and channel them to the Ndakaini Dam, which supplies to the Nairobi's Metropolitan region and beyond.
In November 2024, Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja revealed the tunnel was undergoing final quality and content tests on the water before its full release into the city.
This significant step will not only bring relief to millions of Nairobi residents who experience water shortage but also accelerate infrastructural development projects in Nairobi.
In addition to fixing the water issue in the city, Ruto also told Kawangware residents of plans to have ICT hubs in every ward in Dagoretti North Constituency as part of the government's plans to encourage self employment in the digital era.
