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County seeks to peg River Ndarugu, amidst rise in drowning incidents

A section of river ndarugu where three bodies have been found in the last two months. Photo taken on September 2,2025.

Photo credit: File
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By  LELETI JASSOR

Correspondent

Mtaa Wangu

The Nakuru County administration has initiated plans to peg River Ndarugu and construct a bridge in Nessuit, following a series of drowning incidents that have claimed seven lives in Njoro Sub-county this year.

Chief Officer for Housing and Urban Development, Kamau Kuria, confirms the statistics, saying the county is working closely with the area MCA and the Njoro Assistant County Commissioner to address the safety risks posed by the river.

“The statistics are true. We have retrieved seven people since the year began,” Kamau says, noting that the county prioritizes immediate and long-term interventions, to ensure that the bridge in Neissuit is completed to a level where the public can actually use the area with safety.

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He says a multi-agency team, comprising officers from the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), the Water Resources Authority (WARMA), and security agencies, is being formed to spearhead the pegging of River Ndarugu.

The exercise, Kamau explains, will mark out the official riparian reserve and curb encroachment on riverbanks.

“Pegging will identify the boundaries where development is not allowed. Some people have built too close to the river, and we need to set up the riparian to ensure that it is very clear,” he says, adding this will be essential to facilitating Njoro’s elevation to municipal status.

The planned bridge in Nessuit is one of the first projects under the initiative.

“The pegging will also help identify all the areas that require bridges, the ones that need flood lights or any kind of support,” Kamau says, adding that this will help identify additional danger zones along the river.

River Ndarugu, which winds through several villages in Njoro and neighbouring wards, has been the site of multiple drowning incidents — including that of a two-year-old in Njoro and a 12-year-old in Barut–Kaptembwa Ward in Nakuru West Sub-county.

Their bodies were recovered on October 20 and 21, respectively, after they went missing near the river.