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Kenya’s President William Ruto conducted a groundbreaking ceremony on 9 August for a project to augment the water supply from the Karimenu II dam, in the county of Kiambu, central Kenya.

The KSH4.6 billion (US$31.7 million) project, implemented by the Athi Water Works Development Agency (AWWDA), will supply an additional 20 million litres of water a day from the Karimenu II dam to serve 250,000 residents in the towns of Thika and Gatundu.

Set for completion in June 2024, the project involves building a new water treatment plant, which will increase the dam’s treated water capacity from the current 73.5 billion litres to 93.5 billion litres.

Raw and treated water bulk transmission pipelines, stretching over 5.7km and 14km respectively, will also be built. Intake works will be undertaken at the Ndarugu river and a 1-million-litre break-pressure tank will also be constructed.

The Karimenu II dam was commissioned in August 2022. It comprises a 59-metre-high dam with a reservoir capacity of 26.4 million cubic metres, a water treatment plant, a 55km water transmission network and two water storage tanks located in the towns of Ruiru and Juja. The dam serves the residents of Ruiru, Juja, Githurai, Gatundu and parts of Nairobi. 

In August, President Ruto also commissioned the Ruiru-Juja and Greater Githurai water supply project, which involved the expansion of the Jacaranda water treatment plant from 15 million litres a day to 28 million litres a day. 

AWWDA is a water utility operating in the counties of Kiambu, Nairobi and Muranga. As of November 2022, it served 8 million people, with a daily bulk water production capacity of 664 million litres and a wastewater treatment capacity of 210 million litres a day.

Top photo: Groundbreaking ceremony (Source: AWWDA)