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Some 250,000 Murang’a and Kiambu residents will indefinitely be cut off water supply following contamination of River Chania after oil spilled into it on Wednesday.
Tens of thousands others will suffer low pressure and rationed supplies for unspecified time.
This is after a tanker ferrying petroleum products was involved in an accident at the Chania bridge which resulted to it’s upturning and unascertained volumes of it spilled into the river.
A joint security committee drawn from Murang’a and Kiambu visited the scene and immediately ordered that all water intakes be closed and supply suspended until it was ascertained that the spillage had cleared.
Affected residents are from Gatanga, Thika town and Ithanga Kakuzi Sub counties who rely on River Chania for domestic water supply.
Samuru Assistant County Commissioner in Gatanga, Ms Teresiah Isaacs said the decision was arrived at after it was ascertained that the fuel had gained flow into resorvoirs supplying domestic users.
“Those that were not affected in a major way were temporarily disconnected but by Thursday morning supply was back. Others not yet connected will have their case reviewed after cleanup of their supply lines,” Ms Isaacs said.
Thika West Deputy County Commissioner Mbogo Mathioya said security committees in conjunction with water companies have unanimously endorsed a decision to cut off water supply from the contaminated river.
He said the situation is meant to safeguard public health safety and will follow a rigorous cleansing exercise of the intakes and resorvoirs.
Already, Thika Water and Sanitation Company (Thiwasco) has released a statement explaining the severance of water supply to its customers.
“During the stated shut down, there will be no water supply to all our customers. We will give progress of the spillage control measures as the situation improves”.
The statement added: “We advise all our customers to reserve and use the available water sparingly during the period of interruption. We shall restore water supply once it is assessed that it is free from contamination”.
Thiwasco Managing Director Mr Moses Kinya said the accident was a disaster and some oil had gained access to supply intake channel.
Intake channel
“We dug a huge trench to control more spilling into the intake channel…we managed to hold the fuel into that trench and covered the one on the road with sand. We are in control now and what remains is scooping it for appropriate disposal as we undertake standards control to regain full water supply to our customers,” Mr Kinya said.
He said the exercise is being coordinated by National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), Water Resources Authority (WRA), military, County governments as well as Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenya).
Nation.Africa was also notified that security alerts were issued to Ithanga/Kakuzi Sub County to remain vigilant in ensuring chang’aa brewers especially at Rubiru village do not endanger lives by using fuel contaminated water in their criminal enterprise. BY DAILY NATION