A section of Garissa Town. [Photo/piracyreport.com]
Public Health Officials in Garissa have issued warnings of possible waterborne related diseases within the town and urged those handling food to ensure high standards of hygiene.
The health officials supervised business owners whose premises were not displaying satisfactory standards of hygiene to practically clean fronts of their shops and walls.
Some eatery joints in Windsor estate and parts of the town were forced to shut down prompting a confrontation between the officials and the operators with operators where their premises near a raw sewer complained that nothing had been done even after complaining to the relevant authorities of the problem.
This follows concern by the residents that the clogged sewer lines that have spilled raw sewer near residential areas and eatery joints might and could lead to an outbreak of water-borne diseases.
Garissa Water and Sewerage Company (GAWASCO) has appealed to the town residents to be patient as they try to address clogged sewer lines Addressing the press in his office today, GAWASCO MD Yussuf Mohamed said that the company was aware of the problem and was doing ‘everything humanly possible’ to fix it.
“Our technical crew from the sewer department is working round the clock to rectify the situation. We have mobilized all our resources to ensure that all the sewers are unblocked," Yussuf said.
The MD said the company was talking to sister companies among them Nairobi and Nakuru to see whether they can get the services of their modern flashing unit vehicles to help in clearing lines that have been a menace for long.
He further said the company is trying to work on creating additional manholes units at the closer interval to ensure that it takes a shorter time to clear the debris and the blockages.
“As you are aware the sewer system in Garissa is over 3 decades. Initially, it was meant to serve a population of around 11,000. Currently, the population has grown to about 500,000 overstretching the sewer services,” he added.
Yussuf said that although they are trying to work on the current system, the new sewerage system is partly serving Garissa referral hospital, GarissaUniversity among other institutions noting that ‘problem could have been worse’.
He said that soon, the entire town will be connected to the new sewer line.
The MD, however, said the residents were partly to blame for the current problem saying some of them are emptying debris and other wastes that are not meant for sewerage system hence clocking the lines.
“Some have even sunk and connected these lines from their pits direct to this system. We are appealing to them to desist. Let us be part of the solution and not the problem,” he said.