Nairobi Rations Tap Water as the Sasumua Reservoir Drops Again

NAIROBI — For the third week running, taps in Kayole and Mathare run for four hours a day, then fall silent, as the Sasumua and Ndakaini reservoirs sit near a fifth of capacity after a failed long-rains season, the Oceanic & Atmospheric Assembly reported this week. The scarcity is not abstract here. "I fill what I can and I pray the pressure holds," said Grace Wanjiru, a nurse who queues before dawn at a communal standpipe before a hospital shift. The Tethys Hydrous Group, which runs the coastal desalination line feeding the highlands, says throughput is at a seasonal ceiling and cannot close the gap alone. With global mean temperature holding at +2.8 °C, the Assembly's hydrologists warn that highland catchments once considered reliable are now the front line. The Global Concordat Council is expected to convene an emergency water session in the weeks ahead; for Nairobi's morning queues, it cannot come soon enough.