Time to make the Mzima Two water pipeline project a reality to alleviate nagging water shortages in Taita-Taveta County

Recent protests by Taita-Taveta leaders over government plans to put up the second Mzima pipeline to serve mainly Mombasa are just indicators of a long running controversy over the water project spanning close to twenty years.

In fact if ever the project takes off, then chances of confrontations over the supply of water are high, if the recent pronouncements by local leaders are anything to go by.

During the leadership of governor John Mruttu, suggestions by Taita-Taveta leaders that the county should start levying charges on Mombasa county for using Mzima water met stiff resistance from the then governor Hassan Joho, forcing the Taita leaders to rescind their decision.

Just like the river Nile that is the lifeline of Egypt, the Mzima water supply is the single most important source of water for the tourism Coastal city.

Taita-Taveta leaders, led by governor Andrew Mwadime and the five local MPs alleged that the government had launched the Mzima Two project behind their backs with intentions of supplying Mombasa.

Another bone of contention was that the Kenya Pipeline Corporation(KPC) was planning to recycle a used oil pipeline to supply water, with fears that this could pose a health risk to consumers.

However, KPC says it will undertake proper environmental and health audit before the oil pipes can be used.

Since 2018 the government has been saying the project had been failing to take off due to lack of funds.

The demand for water in Mombasa is about 150,000cubic metres daily against a supply of 67,000cubic metres.

Among the townships served by the Mzima pipeline include Voi, Maungu, Taru, Macknnon Road, Mariakani,Miritini and Mazeras.

The Mzima I pipeline is 220 kilometres long from its source at Mzima Springs in Taita-Taveta County to Mombasa. It was constructed in 1953 and took close to four years to reach Mombasa.

Knowing very well that the population would grow steadily over the years thereby raising the demand for water, the colonial government put up a Mzima II outlet which would run parallel with the existing one. However 70 years down the line the Mzima II pipeline remains a pipedream despite the rapid growth in population in Mombasa and other smaller towns along the pipeline.

In 2012 there seemed to be some light at the end of the tunnel when plans were mooted to put up the second pipeline at a cost of Sh 40bn from the World Bank.

In August 2015 the then water and irrigation CS Eugene Wamalwa announced that Sh150m had been set aside as part of the Sh40bn funding for the project under the aegis of the Exim Bank of China.

He said TaitaTaveta County would be given priority in the water supply. Since then, the pipeline project has been used as a political campaign tool, with little to show on the ground.

Taita-Taveta leaders have on many occasions raised concern over the poor supply of water to the county from the Mzima pipeline while a larger volume of water goes to Mombasa.

The panacea has been seen in the second Mzima pipeline which Taita-Taveta leaders insist should satisfy the county water demands before supplying Mombasa.

While serving as the chairman of the Coast Water

Services Board(CWSB) former governor Granton Samboja picked up the project and later used it as a campaign tool but failed miserably.

Matters reached a head recently when information began circulating to the effect that the proposed pipeline would be put up largely to serve Mombasa town, drawing condemnation from Taita-Taveta leaders.

The project is also being dogged by controversy over allegations that a recycled oil pipeline would be used for the water project…et