The System Beneath the City Is Too Old to Trust

Nairobi’s water crisis is not simply a matter of bad luck — it is the result of a distribution network built for a smaller, slower city. Some of the core pipes running through older suburbs date back to the late 1950s and early 1960s. 

These are steel mains that have survived far beyond their intended lifespan, now brittle, rusted, and prone to bursting without warning. Every time pressure is restored after an outage, weak joints snap open, releasing thousands of litres into the soil before emergency teams can seal the damage.

This unseen decay explains why even after treatment plants increase output, many neighbourhoods still report nothing more than a reluctant trickle. The water is being produced — it just never makes it to the taps.

Kigoro: The Project That Was Supposed to Solve Everything

The Kigoro Water Treatment Plant was launched with high expectations. Designed to channel fresh supply from the Ruiru II dam system, it feeds water into the Gigiri reservoir, which in turn serves large northern and western sections of Nairobi. Kigoro was meant to stabilise areas such as Runda, Gigiri, Westlands, Parklands, Loresho and parts of Mountain View.

But the reality has been more complicated. While the plant does deliver significant volume, rising urban demand has already overtaken its intended capacity. Each time there is a mechanical glitch or a power issue at Kigoro, the ripple effects reach all the way to Kasarani, Zimmerman, Roysambu, Pangani and occasionally even to CBD-adjacent estates because the whole system is interconnected. The promise was reliability — what residents got instead was fragility dressed as progress.

Ndakaini, Sasumua, and the Shrinking Reservoir Cushion

Most of Nairobi’s water still comes from three major sources: Ndakaini Dam, Sasumua Dam and the Ruiru sources tied to Kigoro. But production has not kept pace with the city’s growth. Ndakaini was once able to cushion the network during dry spells, yet periodic low levels and treatment constraints now limit its stabilizing role. Sasumua has also faced repeated maintenance closures over the years, leaving large parts of the western city without steady supply.

The combined shortfall means Nairobi is frequently operating below safe margins. When one plant stumbles, the entire system lurches.

Neighbourhoods That Bear the Hardest Hit

Some estates have become synonymous with water stress. Embakasi, Mihang’o, Kayole, Komarock, Tassia and Fedha regularly face multi-day dry spells. Pressure drops hit them first and recover last because they sit on the far ends of the main supply lines. Zimmerman, Kasarani, Mwiki and parts of Roysambu experience the same pattern, often depending on water bowsers for stability.

Informal settlements — Mathare, Mukuru, Kibera — face even more acute hardship. Illegal connections bleed pressure from the mains, vendors inflate prices, and rationing is less predictable. These areas feel the crisis long before official notices are issued.

Why the Pipes Fail Faster Than They Can Be Repaired

Decades-old pipes are only part of the story. Nairobi has also grown more vertically and horizontally than engineers projected when the legacy mains were laid. High-rise apartments now house hundreds of families where older designs expected a handful of bungalows. Demand per plot has multiplied without a corresponding reinforcement of the underground network.

When pressure is raised to push water to upper floors, the older pipes burst. When pressure is lowered to prevent bursts, estates uphill receive nothing. It is a delicate balance that the current system is simply not capable of maintaining.

The Slow, Expensive Road to Relief

The City Water and Sewerage Company continues to patch breaks, reroute lines, and replace failing sections — but replacements often span a few kilometres at a time. The long-term plan involves renewing entire mains from the dam pipelines into the city, a massive project that requires billions, years, and political focus that rarely holds. The new Northern Collector, once fully integrated, may relieve pressure on Ndakaini, but distribution pipes must still be replaced for any new supply to reach residents consistently.

In the meantime, rationing schedules, tanker deployments and emergency repairs have become part of Nairobi’s weekly routine.

A City Living Between Hope and Hydrants

The crisis is not permanent — but it is persistent. Nairobi can restore reliability if it modernises its mains and expands treatment capacity faster than its population grows. Yet until that transformation arrives, residents will keep living in a city where water is both abundant at the source and elusive at the tap.

The truth is simple: Nairobi’s water has always been there. What’s failing is the journey it must take to reach the people.