“Transition Phase” water supply interventions in low-income urban settlements: Kenya

摘要

A multitude of transitional water supply and distribution interventions are continuallypiloted in Kenya’s fast-growing urban settlements to meet national and global MDGtargets, yet visible problems persist regardless of the investments made. This researchevaluates the performance of four interventions led by public utilities and non-governmental organisations in the low-income settlements of Nairobi, Kisumu andNakuru counties. To understand the service improvement received by the residents,this study used qualitative data from interviews and focus group discussions andquantitative data from 1,168 household surveys.Service level analysis results showed making water more affordable using pre-paidtechnology reduced the effective price by 75% and increased consumption perhousehold by 20 litres per day, resulting in the highest service progress. Improvingwater accessibility for the very poor via hosepipe door-step delivery reduced theburden on women carrying water by 43% although efforts failed to reduce the pricingstructure, limiting the progress. Subsidised ‘first-time’ metered plot connections toincrease the utility customer base experienced shortages in water supply andreluctance from landlords, restricting development. Despite showing no positivechange, 81% of residents continued to rely on expensive self-supplied boreholes whichwere all contaminated.Although the utilities have made positive strides in service improvement, in thecontext of universal service this study has shown that the very poor remain the mostdifficult to access, forming the target of discrete interventions that experiencedifficulties in influencing a reliable supply, sustained price reduction and/or goodwater quality – essentially what is needed most. In investigating the longer term supplyand demand shortfall, this study concludes that the equitable supply and innovativedistribution of point source groundwater, with a bias for the poorest, could be themost resilient transitional solution for the utility to promote in the foreseeable future,out of necessity rather than desire.