An acute water shortage has handicapped Christmas and New Year festivities in Migori as hundreds of residents resorted to fetching the precious commodity from rivers and untreated boreholes.
Long queues of water-pail carrying women and children were spotted at various water collection points around Migori town as reports filtered through that the local water distribution system had stalled due to a faulty water pump, rendering taps in homes and institutions to remain dry.
A spot check by KNA revealed areas highly affected include Migori CBD, Migori Prison, Migori Police Station and in all the residential estates as well as government offices within the County administration headquarters.
“There is a lot of desperation in homes, at business joints and government institutions. People are searching for clean water for domestic use, yet the taps have remained dry for the past one week. Let those responsible for water distribution wake up and give us water,” said Mrs. Jael Otieno.
A home owner in Oruba Estate, Otieno accused officials of Migori County Water and Sanitation Company of sleeping on the job and giving their clients a raw deal despite being faithful in paying bills.
Efforts to get comment from top officials at the company however proved futile as all the phones went unanswered after several calls.
But a worker at the water company, who is not authorised to speak on the matter because of his position, informed us that the distribution of water stalled a week ago after two pumps at the water intake station at Magongo, malfunctioned.
However, the worker denied knowledge of reports doing the rounds that the failed water distribution is due to power disconnection by the Kenya Power & Lighting Company over unpaid bills of undisclosed amount.