KENYA: drinking water supply for 174,000 people in Malaba and Malakisi

The Kenyan President continues his national tour of inaugurating drinking water installations. After Kiptogot-Kolongolo, in Kenya’s Endebbes sub-county, where new drinking water supply systems have been serving 200,000 people since January 17, 2024, William Samoei Ruto made a stopover in Malaba and Malakisi, two towns located in Bungoma West and Kimaet sub-counties, in Busia County. There, he inaugurated a major drinking water supply scheme serving some 173,624 people.

The WTP consists of a water intake with a capacity of 13,630 m³ per day, located on the Ndakaru River. The raw water is transported via a 13.2 km pipeline to a new drinking water plant with a daily capacity of 6,000 m³. The plant will support several existing facilities (2,150 m³ per day), rehabilitated as part of the drinking water project.

A $4 million project

The drinking water flows through a 74 km pipeline to the nine storage facilities. Of these, two are new. The other seven were rehabilitated by the Central Rift Valley Waterworks Development Agency (CRVWWDA), which acted as the implementing agency for the drinking water project benefiting the towns of Malaba and Malakisi. The 173,624 beneficiaries obtain their water from seven new water kiosks.

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In all, work on the Malaba and Malakisi sites cost around 655 million Kenyan shillings (over 4 million dollars). They were carried out as part of the Kenya Sustainable Town Water Supply and Sanitation Program (KSTWSSP), designed to improve access, quality, availability and sustainability of water supply in 19 towns and wastewater management services in 17 towns across the country. The initiative is financed to the tune of $391 million by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Inès Magoum