The Controversy Behind Murang'a-Nairobi Water Wars.

By the pen of Gitau wa Kung'u ✒️

Nairobi City is the exact paradigm of a Neighbour who pees in their water tanks and comes to fetch your water by fire by force whilst you are still struggling with water scarcity! The same ungrateful neighbour then comes to dump their waste on your shamba as they threaten you! Can you allow that?

Nairobi City is the only city in the planet Earth that has National Park! Awesome, isn't it? Unfortunately, the Park is watered by the filthy, stinking Mbagathi River highly polluted with chemicals and other solid wastes. Sad, isn't it?

Nairobi City is a charming princess whom millions of suitors from all over the world rub jealous shoulders on the gate of her parents as they enter and exit the home, seeking for her hand in marriage! The Nairobi City is also top 5 most developed cities in Africa! It has 3 main rivers flowing through it: Nairobi, Mathare and Ngong rivers. However, the city doesn't use the voluminous water for drinking, domestic and other consumption needs but for dumping all sorts of wastes from human, domestic, industrial to synthetic wastes! The city is now fed by Mûrang'a County's flesh Ndakaini dam water! Very ironical, don't you agree?

You will be as shocked as a village granny after her slayqueen granddaughter from Kanairo cooks for her mukimo or muthukui to know that the only source of Nairobi's flesh water (Mûrang'a County) suffers from water shortage and is gradually experiencing the precedent signs of desertification especially in the Mûrang'a North areas and parts of Mûrang'a South!

But wait, you have not seen any "mtu wa Kanairo" slay going to dig or plant anything for his sick grandma yet! Just imagine Nairobi City administration has been pushing to dump their waste in Mûrang'a County! 

The Nairobi City, now under Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) should find means of how to clean up their carelessly polluted water systems, implement water recycling plants and use their own water soon or else, both the county and her water source (Mûrang'a) will be in acute flesh water shortage amid harsh global warming effects soon before Ndakaini eventually dries up, now that it's shrinking at alarming rate over the last few years.

It cannot be left out of the books that the Northern Water Tunnel dubbed "Tunnel of Death" by Hon Raila Odinga during Mwai Kibaki's government; is projected to make the nightmare of eventual desertification of the agriculturally fertile Mûrang'a County.

Right now, Murang'a county rivers like Irati, Maragua, Saba Saba rivers have considerably shrunk in volume and narrowed. Many seasonal rivers have dried up completely and more disheartening; Mûrang'a now experiences unsustainable weather patterns and hence reducing agro-food production  largely due to the unregulated water resource conservation and shared use with Nairobi county .

Mûrang'a County government should also petition for ownership and regulation of Ndakaini dam water resource which is native to the county but controlled by Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company before the full effects of desertification glare ruthlessly.

Gîtaû wa Kûngû writes from Mûrang'a County.