By Bronley Kidari, Kakamega
Kakamega County Water and Sanitation services Chief Officer Jessica Wesonga has said that the county has developed digital water meters to help monitor the high water bills that go unpaid at the water firm.
Speaking to the County Splash, Wesonga said that despite having illegal water connectively there was still a lot of water used and not paid for.
The Chief Officer said that Kakamega has digitized water meters to help detect where the water is going and also to reduce un-revenue water.
“We have decided to come up with the digital water meters so that we can monitor the supply and use of water by different people within the county,” she said, adding that there are people who use water but evade paying for it.
She further stated that currently, the water and sanitation ministry is implementing a multi- million water project at Mumias that will go a long way to be supplied to the areas within.
“After the completion of the project residents will be allowed to get connected to clean and safe water for their domestic use,” she said.
She said that the county government targets to connect 8,000 people to clean water each year adding that water connectivity was governor Barasa’s manifesto of ensuring that each and every resident gets connected to clean water.
However, she noted that the County government has established a water tank at Bulimbo primary school connected from the Lwakhuapa water projects which is a water scheme in Navakholo.
“After the connection of pipes, anyone who needs water at his/her doorstep will be expected to fill forms from our offices and they will be instantly supplied with water,” she said.
In the ending financial year, Wesonga said that the county government set aside 30 million for the water project and they are planning to pump in more cash in the coming year so as to do last mile water connectivity in all the twelve sub counties.
She added that the county has allocated funds to every ward towards the water project noting that the funds will ensure that every resident has access to clean water.
“As a department we are engaging local administrators to ensure that there is responsible use of water and the connectivity runs across the county,” she said.
The Chief Officer added that her department is working with that of agriculture to ensure that farmers doing crop irrigation are supplied with water to allow steady production of foodstuffs.
She further stated that the Barasa’s government was determined to ensure that the project to ensure residents have water at their doorstep will be a dream come true to the Kakamega residents.
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