Kirinyaga County’s e-water model is gaining traction, with counties and neighbouring
countries seeking to replicate the project in providing reliable and affordable clean
water to underserved communities.
A delegation from Kajiado County is the latest to visit the breakthrough project to learn
from its digital system that ensures users access and only pay for the water they use.
The project is domiciled in Gathigiriri ward, a semi-arid area of Mwea Constituency.
Under the eWATER model, residents use mobile money to top up their eWATER tags
and pay only for the amount of water they consume. The approach enables the operator
to provide reliable water services while keeping the cost affordable for rural households.
Governor Anne Waiguru said that the project, which is serving 17,000 residents across
villages of Gathigiriri, ensures access to clean, treated
domestic water.
She welcomed the visit by underscoring the importance of sharing good practices
among counties.
“Iron sharpens iron and so does continuous peer-to-peer learning refine our shared path
forward. It is heartening to see Kajiado County draw insight from Kirinyaga’s eWater
journey. May this exchange strengthen every county still seeking reliable access to
clean water,” noted Waiguru.
The Kirinyaga eWater has gained international recognition, with another delegation from
Mozambique and the World Bank visited the county a month ago to benchmark on the
partnership project that has since been a reprieve for the community that earlier relied
on unsafe water mainly from rice irrigation water canals
Speaking at Kiriko Village during the visit, County Executive Committee Member for
Environment Kinyua Mutugi said that by providing quality water services, health
challenges, especially waterborne diseases in the area, have significantly reduced.
He said the success of the project had demonstrated the importance of partnerships in
addressing water challenges and improving the well-being of communities.
So far, the eWATER project has delivered 124 community smart taps, 84 household
connections and six institutional connections in Gathigiriri Ward, with the whole network
serving approximately 17,000 people across seven villages.
Mutugi noted that the model had helped bring treated water closer to households while
making it possible for residents to pay for only what they consume.
Kajiado County Executive Committee Member for Water Judy Peree said the delegation
was keen to learn from Kirinyaga’s experience and explore the possibility of adopting
the model in areas facing water shortages in Kajiado.
“We are here to explore a partnership that might happen between eWATER and Kajiado
County. It has been good to see how impactful it has been in Kirinyaga County and how
it has touched many lives,” Peree said.
She said Kajiado had areas where residents continued to struggle with inadequate
access to clean water and that the delegation would assess how the model could be
adapted to meet the needs of those communities.
“It is a venture we would like to partake in and see how it fits the Kajiado community,”
she added.
For residents of Gathigiriri, the project has replaced unsafe canal water with treated
water available closer to their homes, while reducing the burden and costs associated
with waterborne illnesses.
Douglas Munene, a resident of Kiriko Village, said access to safe water had reduced the
amount of money families spent seeking treatment for illnesses associated with
contaminated water.
He said the affordability of the eWater service had also made it accessible to
households, noting that residents pay Sh5 for a 20-litre jerry can and sometimes receive
promotional offers at as little as Sh2.
Another resident, Julius Ndung’u, said the project had eased the burden of fetching
water, particularly for women who previously had to travel to rivers and canals.
“We thought it was a joke when it was starting. We went to public participation, but now
it has come to make things easier for us, especially our women,” Ndung’u said.
He recalled that women previously faced dangerous conditions while fetching water,
with some falling into rivers while searching for the scarce resource.
Ndung’u said the new water supply was also more reliable than canal water, which was
seasonal and could be affected by chemicals from surrounding rice farms.
The County Government has continued to prioritize access to clean water across
Kirinyaga, with Governor Anne Waiguru noting that Sh200 million had been allocated in
the last and current financial years for the implementation of water projects, alongside
additional investments through various partnerships.
Waiguru’s administration has implemented over 200 water projects across the county
with 38 projects being implemented this financial year.
