County Government, through the Department of Water Services, today commenced the drilling of four new boreholes in Lodwar as a response against the raging floods which swept away borehole 9- Kanamkemers’ main water supply.
The initiative, based on a detailed floods disaster response plan by the Water Services department and sector partners, was officially launched today by Water CECM Patrick Losike at Nabulon which is one of the sites of the replacement boreholes.
The other three boreholes will be drilled around the same location along river Turkwel, but with protection measures to safeguard against the misfortune that befell borehole 9.
In his speech, CEC Losike assured residents of Kanamkemer that the County was doing all within it’s means to restore normal water supply in the shortest time possible.
CEC Losike acknowledged that the response was a joint intervention by the County Government, UNICEF and two USAID implementing agencies, USAID LMS and USAID STAWI.
“In the detailed response plan, the County’s role is to drill the four borehole, partners will support equipping as follows, UNICEF (one borehole), USAID NAWIRI (two boreholes) and USAID STAWI (one borehole). STAWI will also support a holding tank of 100m3,” CEC Lokaimoe stated.
Additionally, USAID LMS supported geological surveys that informed the boreholes locations.
According to CEC Lokaimoe, the destroyed borehole 9 was a single high yielding facility with a production capacity of 90m3 per hour. “In order to match the production, the County saw it fit to drill four boreholes after hydrological surveys indicated the impossibility of finding one sport with an equivalent yield,” He explained.
Director Administration, Imana Esukuku termed the joint response as a big boost for the affected populations saying that that the inclusion of protection measures was a major milestone against destructive future floods.
During the drilling period, technical staff from the Department and LOWASCO supporting the process will also be conducting continuous water safety checks of the existing sources to prevent residents from possible water contamination.
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