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DAM-L Kenya water shortages/ls (fwd)
From: lori@irn.org (Lori Pottinger)
Subject: Kenya water shortages/ls
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What's the Answer to City Water Woes?
The Nation (Nairobi)
August 18, 2000
Nairobi
Water scarcity in Nairobi is becoming progressively worse,
and City Hall has failed to adhere to the rationing programme it issued
earlier this month. For
two weeks, nearly all parts of the city have gone without water. Even the
Central Business
District.
The situation has become worse for those who depend on water for their
businesses,
especially in the hospitality sector. And City Hall's explanation - that
the shortage is a result of
power failure at the Ndakaini Dam source - is not very convincing.
But perhaps the most dangerous development is that people are being forced
to buy water of
an uncertain quality from vendors. Just how safe is this water?
It is highly possible the commodity sold in debes may be untreated, which
means the city's
thirsty folks are in grave peril of drinking, or cooking with, contaminated
water, a situation that
might lead to an outbreak of disease.
This fear is not baseless. Town Clerk Godfrey Mate is on record as saying
the council cannot
guarantee the safety of the water sold by vendors because it is not from
council sources.
But City Hall has to do more than make useless disclaimers. It must provide
alternatives to
save the rate-payers from an epidemic. While we appreciate the council's
plan to sink
boreholes to supplement the water supply, this is likely to take a lot of
time and may not
prove sufficient.
The whole issue still revolves around inefficiency and lack of foresight at
City Hall. Why did it
take so long for the city fathers to realise dam water could be an
alternative source? Must
we always wait for natural disasters to strike before we can start thinking
about, let alone
acting on, sensible solutions?
This is not a time for making lame excuses. It is a time for deep soul-
searching by the civic
leaders.
In the meantime, it will be necessary for the city to give a clear water
rationing schedule and
abide by it. But a more immediate task is to find out where the vendors,
who are making a
killing, acquire the water they sell and exactly how safe it is. That might
prevent another
disaster for this country.
Copyright _ 2000 The Nation. Distributed by allAfrica.com. For
information about the
content or for permission to redistribute, publish or use for broadcast,
contact the publisher.
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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----- End of forwarded message from Lori Pottinger -----