The dire state of public sanitation in Nairobi County has been exposed in a video that has since gone viral, capturing a hawker fetching sewage and later distributing it as clean water at a Nairobi estate.
The video seen by Kenyans.co.ke showed a man using a jerrican to fetch water at a sewage plant in Nairobi.
The footage captures the same man, believed to be working as a hawker, loading the water jerricans onto a handcart.
The witness who filmed the video reported that the incident occurred at Umoja Three estate and that the water was meant for sale as clean water.
Upon contacting the Nairobi Environment Management Authority( NEMA), they stated that the incident would be looked into.
Frequent water shortage in different parts of Nairobi has led to the emergence of unregulated water vending businesses.
The hawkers use handcarts commonly known as ‘Mkokoteni’ to fetch water. They then distribute it to different households or customers.
Desperate residents trust the vendors who then purchase the water at a price of Sh10- Sh20 for per pitcher.
Most households in high-density estates - such as Umoja, Eastleigh, Pipeline, and others - solely rely on hawkers as their source of water.
This comes barely two weeks after the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company announced an interruption in the water supply in some areas.
This was due to the road construction going on. The affected area were along Ngong Road, Waiyaki way, Langata Road and Naivasha Road.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid and even Hepatitis A are linked to contaminated water.
Research showed that in 2018, out of the total deaths that occur in the country 14.75% die owing to diarrheal related diseases.
