Kenya Water Resources Management Authority (Warma) has been accused of failure to regulate drawing of water from rivers in Mt Kenya region.
Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki said some rich people were tapping water from the rivers flowing from Mt Kenya Forest depriving those living on the lower parts access to the resource.
The governor noted that rivers such as Thuci, Thanantu, Thingithu and Ruguti have a lot of water at the upper parts but are almost drying up on the lower sides.
On the upper parts, he said are so many illegal intakes that Warma should demolish and take legal action against the owners so that all the residents have access to the basic commodity.
The county boss said some people were even using pipes measuring 4-5 inches to draw water from the rivers to their farms for irrigation projects.
He singled out River Thuci that he said is swollen at Kiracha area some kilometers from Mt Kenya Forest but nearly dry in Igambang’ombe.
“Residents living in between Kiracha and Ishiara in Embu have drawn all the water directing it to their farms for farming as their counterparts in Igambang’ombe continue struggling to get sufficient water,” Mr Njuki said during an event at Kamaindi on Friday.
Njuki said together with the County Commissioner Beverly Opwora, they will next week engage the Warma office in Meru to ensure equality in sharing of the resource.
In a bid to provide water to the residents in the semi-arid parts of the county among them Tharaka constituency and Igambang’ombe areas, the county government aims at digging at least one borehole in every village with the Sh55 million drilling machine that it procured recently.
