Water crisis on the coast: changes at the top of the service
Kilifi County is taking action as the disruption shows no sign of abating
28-07-2026 by Freddie del Curatolo
The governor of Kilifi County, Gideon Mung’aro, has decided to reorganise the Water, Finance and Blue Economy departments in an attempt to improve services. But across Malindi, Watamu, Mambrui and Kilifi, thousands of families and tourism operators continue to grapple with one of the worst water shortages in recent years.
Tourism continues to grow and hotels are filling up, but water remains the most difficult resource to guarantee. The new reorganisation initiated by Governor Gideon Mung’aro aims precisely to revitalise one of the county’s most crisis-hit services – the very one that has been causing difficulties for residents, businesses and accommodation providers for months.
Mung’aro has announced a new administrative reshuffle affecting, in particular, the departments of Finance, Water Services and Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy. The stated aim is to strengthen managerial accountability, improve the administration’s performance and make the delivery of services to citizens more efficient.
The decision comes at a particularly sensitive time for the water sector, which has long been one of the county’s most pressing issues. Water scarcity affects much of the coastal region, including Malindi, Watamu, Kilifi, Gongoni and Mambrui, where households, businesses and, above all, the tourism sector have been coping with rationing and intermittent supplies for months.
In recent months, the county government, together with the water companies MAWASCO and KIMAWASCO, has been forced to introduce an official rationing scheme along the Baricho-Kakuyuni-Kilifi network, the main supply line feeding much of the northern coast. The measure was intended to distribute an already insufficient resource more equitably, whilst infrastructure upgrade works are underway.
The problem, however, extends far beyond the local distribution network. According to the Ministry of Water, Kenya’s entire coastal strip faces a daily shortfall of around 327,000 cubic metres of water: against a daily demand of over 512,000 cubic metres, supply stands at around 185,000. In practice, less than half of the demand is being met.
For Malindi and Watamu, the situation also has significant economic implications. Hotels, resorts, restaurants, holiday apartments and tourist villas are increasingly having to resort to purchasing water via tankers, with high costs that inevitably affect the running of these establishments. Many residents, too, depend on private supplies, paying prices far higher than those charged by the standard public distribution network.
The hope is that the new administrative structure will succeed in speeding up the <a href="https://absafricatv9491.live-website.com/from-policy-reform-to-private-capital-africas-new-electricity-investment-model/” title=”From Policy Reform to Private Capital: Africa’s New Electricity Investment Model”>investments already announced for the water network and in improving coordination between the bodies responsible for distribution. For the time being, however, the priority remains ensuring a continuous supply during the tourist season and in the driest months of the year.
For thousands of residents in Kilifi County, the problem is not just the lack of water, but the daily uncertainty. Wondering whether the tap will work tomorrow has become part of their daily routine. And it is precisely on the basis of this emergency – even more so than the county’s political balance of power – that the success of the new administrative approach will be judged.
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