A shocking report has revealed that the tap water in 75 per cent of the buildings sampled in Nairobi was simply unfit for human consumption.
The research was carried out by journalists from The Star following complaints of foul-smelling water from tenants of four buildings in the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD), namely I&M Building, Pioneer House, Rehani House, and Post Bank Building, started complaining of foul-smelling water from their taps.
Tap water was collected using sterilized bottles from the Kenya National Public Health Laboratory as required during such an undertaking.
The four water bottles were rushed to the Public Health Laboratory at Kenyatta National Hospital in under 30 minutes after collection as a precaution against further contamination of the samples.
Following bacteriological analysis, the technicians provided a detailed report which revealed that the majority of the samples were highly contaminated and not fit for human consumption.
“The water samples from three buildings had high levels of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and other coliform bacteria, which are characteristic of water contaminated with faecal matter,” stated an excerpt of the lab report.
Out of the four samples, it was only the sample obtained from the I&M building that was passed as satisfactory for human consumption.
The lab report revealed that water samples collected from Rehani House had 35 coliforms and two E. coli in the 100ml sample collected.
Post Bank building had a shocking 180 coliforms and 14 E. coli in 100ml of water collected, while the Pioneer building sample had 25 coliforms and zero E. coli in 100ml of the water collected.
In a similar test carried out using water collected from phase 2 and 3 of the Greatwall Apartments in Mlolongo, Machakos County, it shows that the water is highly contaminated.
Phase 2 apartments (comprising of 384 houses) had 180 coliforms and 7 E.Coli in 100ml of treated water, while phase 3 apartments (comprising of 284 houses) had 180 Coliforms and 5 E. coli in 100ml of treated water.
The tests were conducted following reports that thousands of residents of the estate had experienced diarrhoea for at least a week.
Greatwall Apartments developers revealed that their water is sourced from EPZA and the Machakos Water and Sewerage Company (Mawasco), thus increasing the possibility that other estates along the supply line could suffer the same fate.
The latest damning report on the state of water contamination comes barely a week since Nairobi County Government issued a Cholera outbreak warning, a disease largely attributed to consumption of contaminated water.
