Gov't Allocates KSh 20m For Rehabilitation Of Two Rivers Dam As Eldoret Seeks City Status

• Members of the Senate Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations Committee said everything showed Eldoret Town was ready to become a city
• The elevation will make Eldoret the economic hub of the North Rift region, Kenya’s fifth city after Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Nakuru
• Peter Biwott revealed that the Two Rivers Dam project will be implemented by the national government in line with the Kenyan legal framework
• The national government will implement the Two Rivers Dam project through the North Rift Valley Water Works Development Agency

Dennis Lubanga, a Kenyan journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings more than 10 years of experience covering politics, news, and feature stories across digital and print media in Kenya.

Uasin Gishu - In September 2023, Eldoret Town inched closer to attaining city status following a visit by the Senate Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations Committee.

During the visit, the senator Abbas Sheikh-led committee said everything showed the town was ready to become a city.

This will make Eldoret the economic hub of the North Rift region, Kenya’s fifth city after Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Nakuru.

Following the visit, the committee presented a favourable report to Senate Speaker Amason Kingi.

The committee found the agriculture-rich county to have conformed to all requirements for assuming city status from the current municipality identity.

This means the headquarters of Uasin Gishu, which christens itself as a City of Champions, will not only be a city on paper but, in reality, a move that has ignited varied conversations online.

When will the Two Rivers Dam rehabilitation kick-off

Should the president assent to the resolution to confer city status on the municipality, Eldoret will require an adequate water supply to meet the growing population.

Against this backdrop, Eldoret Water and Sewerage Services Company (ELDOWAS) Managing Director Peter Biwott told TUKO.co.ke that the national government had allocated KSh 20 million towards the rehabilitation of the Two Rivers Dam.

"The project, which is going to be built starting early in 2024, will be a game changer in terms of mitigating water rationing," Biwott said.

Biwott revealed that the project will be implemented by the national government in line with the Kenyan legal framework.

The national government will implement the project through the North Rift Valley Water Works Development Agency, Biwott said.

"The project will increase capacity to 74 million litres of water per day in terms of distribution. Through this, Eldoret will be self-sufficient in its water supply for the next century. That is why this is a very important investment," Biwott added.

What the whole project will entail

The rehabilitation will involve the upgrade and reconstruction of an existing dam located on the Kipsinende River on the outskirts of Eldoret Town.

The main project components include the construction of a 16.95 Mm3 water storage dam and a 74.167 m3/day water treatment plant (WTP).

Additionally, the project will lay a clear water pipeline from the new WTP to the Sosiani WTP, a distribution pipeline, and establish 31,600 m3 of flow-balancing reservoirs.

TUKO.co.ke understands that Eldoret currently has 500,000 inhabitants, and the water demand is increasing.

But upon completion, the Two Rivers Dam project will further provide annually up to 1,000 individually metered connections to the unserved or new population in Eldoret town and its peri-urban areas, and management services to reduce non-revenue water to below 25% by 2025.

Why there is a demand for more water supply in Eldoret

According to statistics, the demand for water in Eldoret is much faster increasing with the population than the increase in connection to consumers.

"In Eldoret, we have about 80% connectivity in terms of water connectivity and about 30% in terms of sewage connectivity. But still, even with the number of connections, we lack 20 million litres of water per day," Biwott explained.

Biwott further said that currently, ELDOWAS supplies about 42.5 million litres per day, but the demand for Eldoret is about 65 million litres per day.

"So, there is a lot of strain. I receive a lot of calls from residents and even factories saying that they want more water to power their businesses and manage other activities," the MD said.

When reached for comment, Stephen Kibet, the Resilience Watershed manager at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), told TUKO.co.ke that they are specifically looking at ways of conserving the water catchment areas for a continuous supply of water to downstream users, mostly in Eldoret.

"So we have the analogy of from the top to the tap. Eldoret-Iten Water Fund is one of the water funds that we are implementing," he said.

Other water funds in the country include the Upper Tana Nairobi Water Fund, the Jumuia Water Fund, and the River Yala Water Fund, which is the only women-led water fund in the world.

"At TNC, we understand that towns are growing. For instance, Eldoret Town is gearing up for its city status, and there is also the creation of economic zones, all of which require water supply failure, to which we may lose potential investors," Kibet explained.

Why Eldoret is a significant town in Kenya

Meanwhile, Biwott, who doubles as the vice chairperson of the Eldoret water and sanitation service providers, focusing on advocacy, disclosed that he has been pushing for a climate-smart tariff.

"In the initial agreement with TNC for the development of the Eldoret-Iten Water Fund, I signed a commitment that we were going to contribute to the sustainability of the fund through our tariff. 3% of our earnings as ELDOWAS will now go towards climate action. It was 1%, but we have now increased it to 3%," he explained.

TUKO.co.ke previously reported that Eldoret, being the headquarters of Uasin Gishu county, is the home of President William Ruto, who is the fifth president of Kenya.

Besides being known for world-beating athletes, Eldoret is among the cities synonymous with food production, with maize and wheat being key crops in Uasin Gishu and neighbouring counties.

The county also boasts Kenya's second-oldest referral hospital, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), and other high-end facilities like Eldoret Hospital, Mediheal Hospital, Reale Hospital, St Lukes Orthopaedics and Trauma Hospital, and Top Hill, among others.