Nairobi News

The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) says it will temporarily shut down water in parts of Nairobi so as to allow the construction of the Expressway.

The affected area includes along Uhuru Highway where residents have been asked to plan for life without the precious commodity between Thursday and Friday.

The water company said the shutdown was to facilitate the interconnection of the relocated new and old water pipelines on Uhuru Highway between Haile Selassie Avenue and University Way Road Junctions with Uhuru highway to enable the release of the road corridor to the Expressway road contractor.

Areas to be affected include the whole of the city centre, Ngara, Parklands, areas along Limuru Road, Aga Khan Hospital, and the University of Nairobi Parklands Law Campus.

Other areas to be affected include Mombasa road, South B, South C, and their neighbourhoods

University of Nairobi main campus, Coca Cola Factory, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, EPZ-Athi River and the whole of industrial area.

Areas along Jogoo road: City Stadium, Maringo, Bahati, Buruburu and the surrounding estates.

Residents of the said areas have been asked to use water sparingly before normalcy resumes.

Last year alone, city residents have had to endure at least seven water supply interruptions by the urban water utility firm in February, May, June, July, September and December – all due to infrastructural upgrades.

This is the third water disruption this year.

Only about 50 percent of Nairobi residents have direct access to piped water while the rest depend on water from kiosks, vendors, illegal connections, or boreholes.

But even those with direct access to piped water, only 40 per cent of this lot receive water 24 hours per day with the rest for only 11 hours on average.