STAKEHOLDERS COURTESY CALL TO THIWASCO.
CONCERNS/REASONS
Why do we have water rationing?
THIWASCO serves over about 325,000 customers daily, a number
that increases during the day due to visitors who frequent Thika town from the surrounding
areas of Murang’a, Gatundu North and Machakos among others. This raises the
demand for water to 56,000m3 (56 million litres) per day against the current ability to
treat 41,000m3 (41 million litres) per day thus creating a deficit of about 15,000m3 (15 million litres).
Why is there rationing during the rainy season?
Water supply is not dictated by the amount of water in the
river but it is rather determined by the amount of water that the current
infrastructure can manage to treat at any given time.
Why does THIWASCO need water bowsers and exhausters?
Water bowsers are a temporary measure to try and bridge the
gap in the water deficit and in a way to curb any chances of exploitation by
private water providers. The water supplied by THIWASCO bowsers is done using
the same water rates as in the normal supply and payable through the normal
billing system (not instant payments).
For the exhausters, they are to help customers who are yet to
be connected to the main sewerage network eg Landless, estate.
In most cases, this is as a result of breakages of pipes by
road constructions and other infrastructural developments going on across the
sub-county. Others are as the result of power failure and the normal wear and
tear of the company’s pumps and piping systems.
There is also a case of old metallic piping installed in
homes especially those who have been existed for long. These pipes are rusty
and at times clog and block the free flow of water.
This in most cases comes as a result of those houses that
still use the old metallic pipes that
when water resumes, sweep along the dirt and the rust into the taps. This only
takes a few minutes and then clears. We encourage people to replace such pipes
for better input.
What are your future plans to solve all these problems?
1.The management has embarked on efficiency improvement projects that will see an increase of water production within its existing plant by improving its design. This project is going to be implemented in three phases touching on increasing the capacity of the raw water intake from Chania and Thika Rivers, pump house and high water lifts to consumers.
The first phase will be complete by end of June 2021. This will increase production by about 12,000m3 (12 million litres).
2. The Kariminu/Maryhill water project that seeks to construct the second treatment plant at the Ngoingwa Reservoir Site is currently at detailed design review stage. The 950 million project is expected to begin early November 2021 with a construction period of 12 months. This will inject an additional 15,000m3 (15 million litres) into the supply system whose water will flow through gravity and ease the water strains of Ngoingwa, Karibaribi, Witeithie, Kiandutu, Kiang’ombe and Kiganjo.
When this project ends, it will make THIWASCO meet and surpass the current water demand and secure supply up to the year 2042. It will also construct more sewerage treatment plants at Pilot, Kilimambogo and Nanga with a view to cover more areas. The Pilot plant will be installed with biodigester infrastructure to produce biogas that will be used to generate electricity, thus reduce power bills.
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