A CAPITAL CITY WITHOUT WATER FOR 2 DAYS?

It was shared last week that Nairobi, which is one of the biggest cities in the region, will go two days without water starting today.  There will be 85% of Nairobi's population with no water access, which is almost 3million people and a percentage of those people will head for the super-polluted rivers to fetch water.    

Savour that picture for a second. 

Then it makes you think. 

Of Nairobi's 3.14 million inhabitants at night, a number that swells to about 5 million during the day, only about 50 per cent have direct access to piped water.  FIFY PERCENT HAVE DIRECT ACCESS TO PIPED WATER.  That means there are over 1.5 million people that obtain their water from kiosks, vendors, illegal connections and or from wells. Only about 40 per cent of those with access to piped water receive water 24 hours per day.  On average, residents of Nairobi received water for only 11 hours per day in 2009/10, a level deemed unacceptable by the Water Sector Regulatory Board.

My first reaction was not so much shock.  We are in Africa after all, but does that mean we should have lower expectations because of that fact?  I think that is a cop out and it is not cutting the mustard as much these days.  I was just going to run with the news, it can’t be changed and my second thought was not so much the showering, but the flushing of the toilet and it just sounds like such a mzungu thing to say, with sanitation another issue here after the water.  I have 40L of bottled water that I bought when I first moved here and that has always been my emergency supply as I drink the water from the tap; I rarely need to crack into the bottled water.  Driver Steven, when we spoke about it yesterday asked if my apartments had tanks, which I wasn’t sure about and would ask Charles, our building manager, the next time I see him.  In the meantime I have filled all the water bottles I have in the house, I bought a 30L bucket from the shops, which I will fill and then I ran into Charles yesterday afternoon to be told that we do have tanks here at the apartments and when I asked how big they were he said 500L, which sounded a lot, but for 21 apartments for 2 days-is that enough and I made a joke that I would get in first to have my shower in case we ran out.  Charles corrected himself and said that each apartment has their own tank and that is 500L per apartment.  Now that sounded more feasible and my mzungu mind was set to rest.  But I still have my water reserves all ready to go in case the 2 day Kenyan time frame does indeed turn into something a little more.  The upside for me is, if does continue longer, I leave Nairobi on the 3^rd of August anyway so I will be covered either way. 

So after my mzungu thoughts have been aired, what about the other 1.5 million people who don’t have access to tanks or piped water? For example, in Kibera, the largest slum in Eastern Africa and including other slums of Nairobi, water is supplied through water kiosks. 98% of kiosks are privately owned and the owners financed the construction of the kiosks and the pipes to the water mains. Only 2% were operated by community-based organisations or NGOs.  Although two-thirds of the kiosks have water reservoirs, their capacity is insufficient and often water is not available due to supply interruptions.  According to residents, "water is highly contaminated, smells, has a weird colour and has particles inside", "because old, rusty pipes often break and water is polluted by the open drainage lines and sewage lines which run parallel to the water network".  In 2003, when the new water law was passed, the government threatened to shut down kiosks that were not properly registered, saying that they overcharged the poor and did not pay their bills to the city.  One of the reasons for high water prices charged by kiosks was, and perhaps still is, that kiosk owners have to pay bribes to officials, both to allow the initial construction and to operate the kiosks. To register a water connection the utility requires the applicant's plot number, address details, a landlord's certification as a proof of residence, and a certificate of employment. The kiosk operators often do not have these documents and thus pay bribes.

So as bad as it sounds, a capital city to go without water for 2 days, compared to what over 1.5 million people go through on a daily basis hardly seems a big deal right?  So city residents will go without water for two days after the Nairobi Water Company announced it will shut down a treatment plant for repairs.  We are in Kenya, does 2 days really mean 2 weeks in Kenyan slang?  The complete shutdown of Ngethu Water Treatment Plant on August 1 and 2 will affect supply to 85 per cent of Nairobi consumers and only places like hospitals and those areas which provide essential services will not be affected.   Speaking at a press briefing in Nairobi, the Nairobi Water Company Managing Director Philip Gichuki said the shutdown is "aimed at facilitating major repairs with a view of increasing water production for the county of Nairobi".  “There were damages caused by the recent rains in April and May 2013 that have also the need to action rehabilitation works within the Mwangu intake to reinforce the mechanical screens so as to avoid occurrences of breakdown in the coming rainy season,” said Mr Gichuki.  The Ngethu plant supplies 85 per cent of water to Nairobi while Kabete plant and Sasumwa Dam supply the remaining 15 per cent.

They are therefore urging their customers to be patient as they improve the system to serve them better and also request them to store water for use during the period of the shut down and use the same cautiously.  Some of the areas that will be affected include Lavington, Westlands, Southlands, part of Langata, areas along Ngong Road, Waiyaki Way, Thika Road Juja Road Mombasa Road, Jogoo Road Outer-Ring Road, Naivasha Road and Limuru Road. The Company has advised residents in the affected areas to use water sparingly during the period.

So as bad as it sounds, a capital city to go without water for 2 days, to improve and fix the water system, I am sure was not taken lightly.  It is a little like the Immigration shake up, there has to be some inconvenience to improve the system for a better service and long term survival.  A walk in some other people’s shoes can be rewarding (and tough) and it may just also make us think how lucky we are to have simple access to water, what we take for granted every day, to get a taste of how some people live without piped water all the time, may just be a kick in the butt for some.  Reflect on that, for those of you who are in Nairobi reading this, suck it up and be thankful for what you have.  I am one of the lucky ones, where I live; I will have access to water during the 2 days because of our tanks.  We are the ‘other’ 1.5 million that do normally receive 24 hours access to water and this will probably not affect us as much as the people who have issues already getting water and then to have them cut off is inconveniencing them a lot more than the ‘upper’ 1.5 million people.