Why promise of clean water is Mombasa’s pie in sky
At the start of every campaign period, Mombasa residents, like the rest of Kenyans, rub their hands with glee, as politicians pamper them with mouth watering promises.
In a glaring irony, clean and safe water remains one of the most revered promises by the thirsty residents.
Without its own source of water, Mombasa relies on water supplied by giant pipes from Mzima springs in Taita Taveta, Baricho in Kilifi and Tiwi boreholes in Kwale counties.
In their 2013 manifesto, the Jubilee administration promised “every Kenyan will have access to clean, safe running water by 2020.”
Similarly, Governor Hassan Joho, who was at the time Kisauni MP, pledged to provide “clean drinking water by the end of 2016” if elected pioneer governor.
The same pledges re-emerged in campaigns for 2017 elections and now, politicians are back with similar promises. For instance, Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir, who is seeking to succeed Joho, has promised to ensure “sustainable and affordable access to safe water for the entire Mombasa County.”
In his manifesto, Nassir has promised to “operationalise a seawater desalination plant to offer residents an alternative source of potable water…”
Another governor candidate William Kingi says to solve the water problem in Mombasa, the county will look to create its own sources of water.
“We only get about 20,000 cubic metres of water for 1.2 million people, who are permanently in Mombasa and another 700,000 migratory people daily. That is not enough,” he said adding he will reduce the non-revenue water by cutting off the water cartels in Mombasa.
“The corruption in the water sector will be a thing of the past. So, those involved in water business in corrupt ways, your days are numbered,” Kingi says in his manifesto.
He further said he will focus on desalination of the ocean water and water aquifers to increase water supply to residents.
But for residents of Mombasa, the promise of access to clean water has remained a familiar pie in the sky, whose mouth-watering aroma wafts into their homes every electioneering period.
Shortly after winning the 2013 election to become the pioneer Mombasa governor, Joho appeared more than determined to walk the talk.
In December 2013, just nine months into his first term, Joho signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a Japanese corporation-Toyota Tsusho to conduct a feasibility study on supplying desalinated water to Mombasa.
The project was intended to produce 100,000 cubic metres of clean fresh water per day to sustain the demand of 1.2 million residents of Mombasa.
In August 2018, Mombasa County Assembly approved a motion in support of construction of two desalination plants, before Joho’s administration awarded tenders to two foreign companies to construct desalination plants.
Through its official website, Almar Water Solutions Company with its headquarters in Madrid, Spain, confirmed that it was awarded the Mombasa desalination plant project at the end of 2018.
A similar tender was also awarded to Switzerland based AquaSwiss to build a smaller desalination plant in Likoni that can purify 30,000 cubic metres per day. Both plants would cost Sh16 billion.
However, nine years down the line, as Joho winds up his final term, the project has failed to take off. During a recent Mombasa gubernatorial candidate’s debate, Deputy Governor Kingi confirmed “the project failed.”
Acting executive in charge of water Maryam Mbaruk could not be reached for comment about the matter as she declined to answer our calls or respond to our text messages.
Besides the failed desalination plants, the county has invested billions of shillings in other water projects.
On May 20, 2019, Mbaruk who was then Finance executive and her then water and sanitation counterpart Fatma Awale alongside Mombasa Water Managing Director Anthony Njaramba signed “a Sh 3 billion Water and Sanitation Development Project.”
County Governments Budget Implementation Review Report (CBIRR) for the Financial Year 2020/21 indicates that in the first nine months of the financial year, Mombasa County department of water, had the highest percentage of recurrent expenditure to budget at 191.0 per cent. That period, the County had allocated Sh128.9 million for the department’s recurrent expenditure and Sh1.4 billion for development. Sh34.2 million for recurrent expenditure and 228.2 million for development expenditure came from the exchequer.
The County government on its website, claims that a number of water projects have been initiated to end the perennial water problem. The projects include “the construction of a five kilometer water pipeline and six water kiosks in Likoni which increased water access to 1,200 households.”
The website further indicates that 22 boreholes have been constructed across the six sub-counties at a cost of Sh60 million. Despite the billions of shillings going into water projects, a spot check reveals that access to clean water remains a struggle for most households in all the six sub counties.
“I normally wake up at 5am and sometimes stay in the queue up to 10am waiting to get water. Today, I woke up at 5am and until now I am still here waiting,” Susan Odhiambo, a resident of Mtopanga in Kisauni explains. Her neighbour Hellen Karambu shares a similar predicament.
During this year’s world water day, there was a resounding clamour for fresh water by residents of the sprawling slum of Bangladesh in Jomvu constituency who claimed to have gone without water for over six months.
An almost similar situation is replicated across the county where residents have resorted to buying water from private water dealers.
A number of investors are capitalising on the shortage to make a kill out of the water business. Such investors have set up mushrooming kiosks that host giant water tanks, from where residents fill their jerrycans at a fee. A 20-litre Jerrycan goes for Sh50.
Engineer Chihanga Donda who served as a technical manager at Coast water services for 10 years says considering the growing population of Mombasa, it has been difficult for the available sources to satisfy the growing water demand.
“Water from Baricho, Mzima springs and Tiwi is supplied via old bulk water systems that were installed when the population was still growing. We have not substantially increased water production to meet the demand. For Baricho, the government increased boreholes but because it uses a pumping system involving abstraction of groundwater from boreholes with the aid of giant water pumps that consume a lot of power. In a month the electricity bill is more than Sh40 million. And in most cases people suffer following electricity disconnection due to high bills,” explains Donda adding that the operation and maintenance cost of the systems is “extremely high.”
Existing bulk systems are old and rundown, a situation which exposes the county to losses through non-revenue water. Non revenue water (NRW) is water that has been produced and is “lost” before it reaches the customer. Losses can be real losses through leaks, or apparent losses such as through theft or metering inaccuracies.
According to Donda, Mombasa cannot account for 50 per cent of water supplied from its sources in Mzima, Baricho and Tiwi.
“Non revenue water is very complicated. There are so many reasons including underground leakages, illegal connections…if Mombasa is supplied with say 40,000 cubic metres, it cannot account for 20,000 cubic meters after adding all the various meters of the consumers compared to the incoming meters,” he explains.
While water from Mzima springs in Taita Taveta County flows to Mombasa by gravity and therefore is less costly, its source pipe capacity is limited with only 40 cubic metres per day against Mombasa’s demand of 150,000 cubic metres. Plans to bolster the capacity through proposal of Mzima phase two have been ongoing but have stuck at the implementation stage.
“Proposals have been made, preliminary designs and feasibility studies done but funding has been an issue…Initially it was Sh20 billion but by now it has to be more. If you get an investor today you have to review the designs because it was done more than 10 years ago. You have to relook into some specifications and change them,” explains the engineer.
In 2020 Water Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki confirmed that Treasury was finalising the refreshing of the financing agreement to compensate for time lapse between when the project conception was done and the proposed implementation dates.
Mzima II is the biggest water project in the Coast region straddling five counties and expected to serve over 1.5 million residents.
The project will have a daily carrying capacity of over 105 million litres against the current capacity of 40,000 cubic meters.
First done in the 1960s during the construction of the current Mzima line, the Mzima II concept was in anticipation of serving an expanded population in the coastal region.
The 220-km line will complement the existing dilapidated line which is often prone to frequent bursts that lead to massive loss of water and dry pipes for weeks before repairs.
Finding solutions to the water crisis in urban areas, Donda says requires proper projections.
“The promise for water by leaders started a long time ago. Even the government started the promises a long time ago not knowing that the demand for water is a growing target. Every year, the population increases, industries increase and if you made your target last year, the demand surpasses the following year. It’s like shooting a moving target…you don’t plan by studying the current demand. You need to project it by almost 20 years,” the Engineer explains: “If today there are 50 households in a village before you finish the project, the population has doubled, especially considering that where there are amenities, the population grows very fast.”
