Water Water Everywhere…

…but not a drop to drink.

On Saturday flooding caused a dam to burst which supplies the water treatment plant for Nairobi. They were estimating that it would take about a fortnight to repair, leaving most of Nairobi without water for that time. Fortunately I have two large water tanks at my flat and I think I can last that long.

Today however, officials are saying that we should have up to 70% of our water supply back already. Although even when the water supply is supposedly working I often don’t get any water in the kitchen tap, which is the only tap in the house not fed by the tanks.

Interestingly, there was a programme on the BBC World Service yesterday about water supplies in Kibera – the main slum in Nairobi, which even in the best of times doesn’t have a great water supply. For the next couple of weeks they’ll be getting water delivered in tankers.

The rains are due to ease in Nairobi, but in the west of Kenya they’re not expecting any let up in the rain just yet, where already a million people have been made homeless by the floods.

This weekend I’ll get away from the rain, as I go off to Mombasa for a conference where the temperature is in the mid 30s and they have 90% humidity.

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