Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko on Saturday offered city dwellers rewards for arresting water cartels and rogue Nairobi City County officials.
Residents were promised a Ksh300,000 reward for apprehending cartels known to divert water to private vendors in various estates.
A reward of Ksh10,000 was further promised for busting rogue county officials who collude with the cartels to divert water.
Many estates in Nairobi experience frequent water shortages enabling private vendors to cash in by distributing the commodity using water boozer tanker.
"Investigations reveal that the water shortage being experienced in many parts of Nairobi is as a result of sabotage by water cartels whose days are now numbered," he stated.
The Governor went on to outline plans to ensure all areas of the city are guaranteed adequate water supply.
Sonko assured residents that construction of phase 1 of the Northern Water Collector Tunnel that will supply 140,000 cubic meters of water to Nairobi would be complete by October, 2019.
The project is funded by Sonko's administration, the national government and the World Bank.
"This project will divert flood water to the tunnel from three rivers; Gikigie, Irati and Maragua in Murang’a. The tunnel will bring water to Thika/Ndakaini dam whose yield today is unable to support the required production capacity of Ngethu water treatment works of 440,000 cubic meters,” he asserted.
He also addressed the thorny issue of water supply in Kibera and Lang'ata which offers a picture of how the cartels' activities affect ordinary Kenyans.
The pipeline serving several estates in Lang'ata passes through Kibera where cartels redistribute the water to sell to private vendors.
Sonko noted that a pipeline was being laid from Kabete to Uthiru before joining Karen Shopping Centre and linking with the pipeline along Langata Road.
"This will address water supply problems in the whole of Langata constituency and address the water conflict between Kibra and Langata constituencies," the Governor stated.
