Kitui Water Supply Set for a Boost as Masinga Intake Works Expand
August 2026
Kitui Governor Julius Malombe hosted Tanathi Water Works Development Agency (TAWWDA) chief executive officer Sammy Lemunke Naporos at his office in Kitui town this week, pledging closer cooperation on water projects that have long been promised to the county. The County Diary reports the visit was Naporos’s first courtesy call on the Governor since he took over at the agency. Separately, the Star’s headline on the same set of developments points to the long-discussed Masinga intake expansion now carrying a Sh400 million price tag, though the outlet’s full breakdown of that figure was not accessible for this piece.
Masinga Intake Expansion Explained
The works sit at the Masinga site on the Kitui-Machakos boundary. Tanathi’s own project records describe plans for new intake works, a fresh raw water rising main, a backwash tank and a transformer, along with new pumps meant to push treated water toward Kitui town more reliably. Masinga Dam already does most of the heavy lifting for the county’s piped supply.
Kitui Water and Sanitation Company (KITWASCO), the utility serving Kitui town and the surrounding sub-counties, lists Masinga Dam as its dominant source, supplying roughly 90 percent of what reaches customer taps. That single-source reliance is precisely why engineers have flagged the intake as the point most in need of upgrading.
Why Water Access Matters Locally
The stakes are not abstract for people living with the current system. KITWASCO’s own figures show its network can meet only 39 percent of area demand, and overall piped coverage across its supply zone sits at just 33 percent. Thousands of households fall back on rationing schedules, boreholes or water vendors whenever reservoir levels drop.
For traders in Kitui town’s central market, an unreliable tap often means paying vendors a markup just to keep stalls running through a dry spell. Farmers around Kitui Central and Matinyani, both fed by the same Masinga-linked network, have faced similar rationing in past dry seasons. A functioning intake upgrade would not solve every shortage overnight, but it targets the exact chokepoint that has capped supply for years.
Malombe-TAWWDA Partnership
During the courtesy call, Governor Malombe said the working relationship between the county government and TAWWDA had been central to pushing forward water projects in areas that have struggled with shortages. Kitui County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Water Peter Gitonga joined the meeting, alongside officials from KITWASCO and Kitui’s Mwingi-based counterpart, KIMWASCO, the County Diary’s report notes.
Beyond the Masinga works, TAWWDA’s list of active investments in the county also includes the Kiambere-Mwingi last-mile connectivity project, aimed at extending piped water further into Mwingi’s outlying areas. Neither the county government nor TAWWDA has yet published a firm completion date for the Masinga intake upgrade, and the Star’s Sh400 million figure has not been independently itemised in the material available for this report.
What happens next will likely show up first in KITWASCO’s rationing notices rather than in any press statement. If the intake upgrade moves as planned, residents in Kitui town and nearby wards should notice fewer scheduled cut-off days before the next dry season sets in, though for now that remains the promise rather than the delivered result.
