By Davis Otieno 

For many years, the water crisis has been affecting most parts of Nairobi, especially the Eastlands side where most of the slums and ghettos are located. Till now, some areas have never seen water running through their taps. It has been a struggle for them lacking water as most of them are forced to walk a long distance and go to the neighborhood estates to look for water.

Dandora is one of the areas around Nairobi that has been facing the crisis of water shortage for many years despite water pipes that go to government territories passing through the area. Some residents even tried to make some holes and connect the pipes to their homes in order to beat the shortage but the City Council came to inspect and remove the pipes, even going to an extent of arresting the owners of the plots.

Further, the residents tried to hold dialogues with some of the officials of Nairobi Water Company to try and find solutions to the problem of water but most of the meetings were in vain. This issue of water in Dandora has made it easier for water cartels to continue with water smuggling, most of whom have even marked their territories. 

Just recently during the pandemic, Nairobi city was taken over by the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) and they decided to drill boreholes around Dandora from phase one to phase five. This borehole project was a step in the right direction towards eradicating dry taps around Dandora, considering the fact that the borehole water was to be for free to every resident around Dandora.

The project took exactly three months according to how it was planned under the supervision of the area MCA’s from every ward. The people were happy when the projects were completed and were eagerly waiting for the president to come and launch them for use as he had done in  Mukuru since the project was being done all over Nairobi, but even after the launch the boreholes are still not functioning. 

The residents of Dandora are still facing the challenge of dry taps  and still don’t know when the boreholes will be used. Some members have gone to the area MCA’s to demand for answers but all has been in vain. The people of Dandora hope the boreholes will soon start functioning and being used.

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