Athi River Town has been hit by an acute water shortage prompting most of the residents to seek the important commodity the whole day.
A spot check by this writer on Friday, revealed that the entire town and and the slums in the surrounding area like Slaughter, KMC, Kisumu Ndogo, Sofia, Jam City, City Carton and Juakali have all been affected.
Residents of Slaughter Slum said they had been experiencing acute persistent water shortage for the last two weeks.
Sarah Nduta, a resident, said the situation was getting worse since majority of the residents relied on the water provided by the Mavoko Water and Sewerage Company (MAVWASCO), which they hardly receive.
Nduta said the residents were forced to queue the whole day on a daily basis at the water service provider's kiosks located in Athi River Town with hopes of receiving water.
The residents said due to high demand of water in the town, the scarce commodity had become too expensive for the locals to afford.
"Majority of the residents from Athi River Town, more so those residing in the slums are forced to minimise on water usage. It has become an expensive commodity for the common citizen to afford," said Victor Juma, a resident.
Juma said due to the situation, the water vendors in the region had taken advantage to inflate their prices, selling a 20 litre jerican at Sh 100 as opposed to the normal Sh20.
The residents blamed the Machakos County government for the shortage arguing it had done little to address the issue in the region.
The locals called on the national government to provide the region with water to avert the situation, arguing that they had lost hope and confidence in the Machakos government.