ABSTRACT
The statement of the problem of the study was to investigate the water supply sector which appears to focus more on supply oriented provision that is done through expansion of physical access instead of focusing beyond just the physical access, but be extended to maintaining dignity, protecting people’s health, and preventing extra costs that could be used in catering for other basic needs. An ideal model is the centralized piped water supply system which delivers potable water to premises and piped water is by far the most efficient technological outlet that delivers water to densely populated slum settlements and this technology is the long term goal for water supply sector development. The purpose of the study was to assess and gain deeper understanding of the extent to which public water supplies, water policy influence management of multifaceted water resources in Mathare slums, Nairobi County. The objectives of the study were; to establish the extent to which sources of water supplies influence management of Multifaceted water resources in Mathare Slums, Nairobi County; to determine the extent to which treatment of water and storage influence management of multifaceted water resources in Mathare Slums, Nairobi County; to examine how distributions of water to users influence management of multifaceted water resources in Mathare Slums, Nairobi City County; to assess how water policy influence management of multifaceted water resources in Mathare Slums, Nairobi City County; and finally, to determine the extent to which public water supplies influence management of multifaceted water resources in Mathare Slums, Nairobi City County. The study employed descriptive design with a sample of 413 respondents consisting of the target population of 398 households and 15 focus group discussion drawn from 74,967 households and those organizations managing water resources was conducted to gather additional qualitative data on the research project on those managing water resources that formed the focused group discussion and included Nairobi City Water Sewerage Company, Water Resources Authority, Water Services Regulatory Board, Mathare – Kosovo Water Supply (NGO), Water Sector Trust Fund, Pamoja Trust (NGO), Area Chief/ Assistant Chief and Water kiosks owners/ operators. The study used stratified random sampling for the six strata mapped out due to the nature of the population under study. The study used primary data collected using questionnaires and secondary data gathered from existing literatures, books, articles, journals, and online sources. The study used correlational and descriptive analysis of data aided by use IBM® SPSS version 20 and Microsoft Excel to analyze data, present and interpret the findings of the study. The study found that there was improved water access/supply, though more sensitization on treatment and storage still required, water distribution infrastructure requires more management attention, resident also need more awareness creation on pro- poor water policy and finally holistic urban water management strategy noted to be critical in the management of multifaceted water resources. The study concludes that extending access to piped water requires data for coordinated low settlement urban planning, increased investment in water infrastructure and maintenance and good governance. This can be realized through extending formal piped network with the goal of meeting universal access to piped water to the resident plots; addressing context-specific of intermittent water supply, using technology to detect leaks, and improving regular infrastructure maintenance to reduce leaks; pursuing diverse strategies to make water affordable with special consideration to the slum dwellers (pro-poor policy); and lastly, supporting informal settlement upgrading to improve water access. The study recommends that water resources management should be prioritized to increase the amount and quality of available water but good water resources management is essential to ensuring sustainability and resilience. Good water governance to ensure adequate supply of water where interventions such as strengthening policy, institutional and regulatory frameworks. Further research on opportunities and prospects of different policies & institutional arrangement for improving urban water access; how social & power relations between different actors influence who has access to water in slum areas; and finally, on the concerns of worsening water quality and water pollution that reduce the suitability of low water levels.
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
- Background of the Study
The emergence of human settlements around the availability of fresh water sources is evidenced in many parts of Nairobi City. In the history of humanity, development and nourishment of cities and urban towns of economic and socio-cultural activities caused about the logistical challenges of sourcing/ fetching water from distant sources. By 2030, the projection of cities population will be almost five billion people, with 80% of them concentrated in developing nations, especially in Asia and Africa (UNFP 2007). Apparently, water supply sector has focused largely on supply oriented provision through expansion of physical access. However, the objectives of providing a water supply goes beyond just the physical access to also rather to maintain dignity, protect people’s health, and avoid the extra costs that could be spent on other basic needs. Poor water supplies have for a long time associated with water-related diseases, exposure to chemical as well as other indirect health impacts caused by reduced productivity and poor personal hygiene (Hunter et al., 2010). Nevertheless, Mehta et al. (2007) argue that it’s not enough to enhance physical access as one should also consider “functionality”, which refers to the extent to which access makes it possible for people to gain positive personal, economic and social outcomes.
A centralized piped water supply system which supplied premises with potable water is seen as the most ideal in the supply and distribution oriented provision (Furlong, 2014). Piped water, which is used to provide water to densely populated areas, has been proven by far to be the most efficient technological outlet in the water supply sector development and remains the long-term goal. However this infrastructure ideal is a hard earned luxury to more than half of the population of developing countries, where only 48% of the population had access to piped water by 2012 (UNICEF & WHO, 2014). The public sector manages a larger part of many centralized water networks where there also exist many diverse institutional arrangements that make up the “alternative” provision systems.
This research project highlighted what is beyond physical access to potable water in slum areas and focused on the complexity of safe drinking water provision. This included the functionality of water, the outcomes of water provision, and other available diverse range of provision
provided by the non-government organization commonly referred in this research as “multifaceted access to water resources”.
Urban water problems are partly driven by the increasing demographic pressures, including rural to urban migration and distorted rural to urban fringes are to partly blame for the urban water problems. Nairobi has experienced a steady urbanization with a rate of about 4 % annually, which is projected to make up for the 4.5 million urban inhabitants by 2025 (KNBS, 2019; NCWSC Strategic Plan 2014/15 – 2018/19). With a total population of 4,397,073 (KNBS, 2019), it is inevitable for Nairobi City, which attracts tourists and job seekers alike, to experience rapid population growth. This growth must be accompanied by a major improvement in water supply provision, a responsibility that the city government is responsible for. Nevertheless, provision of drinking water service especially for the low income community in urban slums of the city is majorly hindered by poor governance. The evidence of these failures noted by limited available piped water service, illegal connections, lack of adequate quality, quantity, and continuity of water; a high cost burden to the poor; as well as a low trust in public service providers.
There are limited studies linking aversion behaviors with other dimensions of access such as physical access, quantity, continuity, and affordability. Regarding aversion to unsafe water, Um et al. (2002) descries about three steps that emerge at the end of a generic process. First, exposures of household to water supply perceived to contain a high level of contaminants, which may endanger health. Second, household perceptions lead to non-action or choice of actions that may reduce the perceived risks. Finally households may make a decision on the level of action required in order to obtain a level of risk that is acceptable. A study that examined the risk of arsenic exposure came up with a conclusion that risk beliefs are socially constructed and is caused by everyday interactions, personal experience, local knowledge, and social networking (Chappells et al., 2015). However, there are scarce similar studies that provide a broader scope of dimensions of access. It therefore not clear how perceptions emerge, and how (and why) such perceptions lead to decisions that inform particular behaviors to avert risk and loss.
The last decade has seen a lot of discussions regarding bottled water being a direct substitute of piped water. The debate was prompted by the growing distrust of the quality of piped water (Parag & Roberts, 2009 and Saylor et al., 2011). The status of bottled water in northern countries has need elevated to better quality option compared to piped water regardless of them maintaining a robust piped water service. Viscusi et al. (2015), observes that according to some
critics, bottled water consumption was based on the irrational perceptions of consumers and that bottled water wasn’t as superior as it was perceived. Contrary to the condition of northern countries, majority of residents in southern countries such as Kenya treat piped water services as a luxury. This is due to the distinct development trajectory where there has been no planning, designing and building network for the majority of the populace (Kooy & Bakker, 2008) and this case is typical of Nairobi. Piped water supply was provided originally for the white European population and other high social classes such as local elites and the colonial civil , while traditional water sources such as surface water and shallow well was used by others who were regarded as people of lower status for domestic purposes, including drinking.
In order to cope with these deficiencies and get adequate supply of water, household can rely on multiple modalities including employing multiple water sources in order to match source with intended use (Neumann et al., 2014). Generally in Nairobi households are forced to combine piped water with (un)improved water sources, including water from vendors, or bottled water. Official statistics fail to capture these facts such that coverage tends to overestimate the number of households having full time access to full time improved water sources on a full time basis, while the number could actually be lower than reported. Secondly, equity doesn’t just mean varying levels of access across socioeconomic groups. Abubakar (2016) suggested that it provides a biased level of performance and an exaggerated level of accomplishment when one concentrate only on equity of access. Equity also means access to water, in an economical manner, for the poorest segment of the population. According to the principle of equitable access, it should be affordable to all those paying for water service. According to United Nations, (2017) the poorer households are burdened unlike their richer counterparts and should be protected by subsidizing for them water expenditures and that water related cost shouldn’t hinder a person from access to safe water and in the process his/her other basic rights shouldn’t be compromised. It’s suggested that the poor in urban slum areas pay much more than those in rich household, for a litre of water purchased from private vendors (UNICEF & WHO, 2011; 2013; 2015 & 2017). In order to check on affordability, there is need for a clear measurement of the cost of varying water cost across the different income level to ensure affordability. Water related costs are often measured. The expenditure of connection of water utility as well as water consumption is used to measure water related costs.
Over time, there has been a debate of over the involvement of private actors in water supply. The late 1980s marked a departure that saw involvement and investment of private actors in urban water supply network (Prasad, 2006). Conditions to international financial institutions and donor agencies required that private actors be integrated so as to help achieve efficiency in service as well as better form of governance in comparison to ‘low level equilibrium’ services offered by the state whereby low efficiency results s to low quality service (Prasad, 2006). However, participation of private actors’ is perceived to lead to violation of human right to water since the private actors operate to recover full cost by charging user fees and further making profits. For instance, Karanja, (2018) observes that the participation of private sector in supply of water service in the capital city of Nairobi may not automatically influence on the reduction of tariffs and increase water affordability. This results into further exclusion of the poor from basic water services due to their inability to afford paying for the water. For the poor, the small-scale private providers (SSIPs) are seen as increasingly assuming the role as the dominant providers. This water vending methods is no longer a fringe activity since it account for a large proportion of total water revenues (Gulyani et al., 2005).
This research project has based its foundation on a multidisciplinary perspective which included water resources and environmental engineering, project planning & management, psychology, economics and governance studies. Since the 1980s, knowledge bases on water and sanitation technologies have been well established. The first international water and sanitation decade dealt largely on hardware solutions and up to now, the perspective of technocrats has greatly been seen to try and fix universal water problems (Mehta et al., 2007). A multidisciplinary view, as a central issue of this research project, was crucial for better comprehension of the multifaceted access to water supply. The scope of multifaceted access to water, as mentioned earlier, included physical access (together with issues of water quality, quantity, continuity, affordability, and equity dimensions), the several health issues as well as economic impacts resulting from water supply provision and the diverse range of water provision structures and governance.
Application of a diverse and appropriate water and sanitation technologies, water quality and quantity assessment and advanced water purification was seen as a potential way of solving water supply problems through an engineering and project planning and management approach. The perspective adopted in this research project was valuable in digging out issues ranging from the various types of infrastructural access to water, water quality and quantity, as well as
continuity dimensions in water supply. Traditionally, studies related to public health issues of the water challenges focused more on linking health issues to poor water supply service. This perspective was critical in order to have deeper perspectives associated with impact on health of the different types of behavior towards water and its access. Additionally, in assessing water problems, project managers put more focus on choice and aversion behaviours modeling, cost- benefit analysis, as well as water tariffs; in analyzing affordability, water management and expenditure and equity issues, the principle and approach of this discipline was essential in this research project. Moreover, social psychology studies focused more on the motivation, perception, belief, and behaviour in the WASH sector. The socio-psychological and economic perspective was vital to create an understanding of the choices and behaviors of the citizens, which, besides dealing with health and other motives also dealt with economic rationales. Meanwhile, water governance scholars put more emphasize on the political and institutional aspects of water supply, an important aspect when analyzing the treatment & storage, water distribution to users and the general structure of water supply provision,
Provision of drinking water in close proximity to dwellings is an important solution to preventing excessive collection time. Water must be free from contaminants which pose personal health risk to individuals. Water should be sufficient and in continuous supply for drinking and hygienic use. Finally, water costs should not prohibit a person from accessing safe drinking water and shouldn’t limit him or her from enjoying other fundamental rights (United Nations, 2007). These are called “the dimensions of access” (Nganyanyuka et al., 2014). Along with any of these dimensions, the lack of access to adequate water supply to meet basic needs of individuals expose households to risk of exposure to preventable diseases as well as impoverishment. This study aims at assessing and gaining a deeper understanding of the complex realities of water supply mechanisms in urban slums through the study of individual households and collective strategies to ensure access to safer and more reliable water provision, water treatment and its storage and distributions.
Statement of the Problem
Mathare low income settlement, with a population of 206,564 people and 74,967 households has faced a range of social and health problems, ranging from gang violence, cholera outbreaks and collapsed buildings due to unplanned developments which have denied residents access to basic amenities. Though Mathare settlement has been connected to clean drinking water lines to some
extent, and a lack of sewer lines has seen the high-rise buildings emptying their wastewater into Nairobi River. Much of the public spaces including land reserved for road expansion, riverbanks and public amenities have been grabbed and sold off by individuals in collusion with land officials. Its population increase has been largely due to the continued influx of job-seekers in the city due to the cities growing population, which is estimated to be approximately 4.4 million persons and a population growth rate of 4% annually (). This was an indication that unless appropriate and urgent strategic measures taken by the government, then the Kenyan Vision 2030, 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and 2063 Agenda for Africa might not be tenable in the Kenyans’ context.
Using the access metric, one hundred and sixteen countries have achieved the global drinking water target set by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)’ (WHO & UNICEF, 2014). There has been a growing concern that access will not always result into water safety and sustainability as set out in the MDGs Target 7c. Although WHO & UNICEF (2013) reported that 89 percent of the population in the developing world has gained access to improved water sources, service quality issues have yet to be resolved. Access to water is one of the biggest issue facing urban areas. The growth of urban population presents a major challenge to the supply of water by raising the demand for clean water. While 96% of urban populations have access to improve water supplies (WHO & UNICEF, 2013), issues of poor water quality, intermittent supply, inadequate disinfection, and aging and damage to infrastructure remain (Lee & Schwab, 2005). Urban residents are also forced to rely on more expensive sources of water, such as bottled water or more contaminated.
