Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing rapid urbanisation and many urban residents use groundwater where piped supplies are intermittent or unavailable. This study aimed to investigate long-term changes in groundwater contamination hazards and hand-dug well water quality in two informal settlements in Kisumu city, Kenya. Buildings, pit latrines, and wells were mapped in 1999 and 2013–2014. Sanitary risk inspection and water quality testing were conducted at 51 hand-dug wells in 2002 to 2004 and 2014. Pit latrine density increased between 1999 and 2014, whilst sanitary risk scores for wells increased between 2002 to 2004 and 2014 (n = 37, Z = −1.98, p = 0.048). Nitrate levels dropped from 2004 to 2014 (n = 14, Z = −3.296, p = 0.001), but multivariate analysis suggested high rainfall in 2004 could account for this. Thermotolerant coliform counts dropped between 2004 and 2014, with this reduction significant in one settlement. Hand-dug wells had thus remained an important source of domestic water between 1999 and 2014, but contamination risks increased over this period. Water quality trends were complex, but nitrate levels were related to both sanitary risks and rainfall. Given widespread groundwater use by the urban poor in sub-Saharan Africa, the study protocol could be further refined to monitor contamination in hand-dug wells in similar settings.
Shallow hand-dug wells are commonly used to supplement partial or intermittent piped water coverage in many urban informal settlements in sub-Saharan Africa. Such wells are often microbially contaminated. This study aimed to quantify the amount of such groundwater consumed, identify the socio-economic profile of well owners and consumers, and patterns of domestic water usage in informal settlements in Kisumu, Kenya. Building on a previous study, 51 well owners and 137 well customers were interviewed about well water abstraction, water usage and handling patterns, asset ownership, and service access. An estimated 472m3 of groundwater per day was abstracted in two informal settlements, with most groundwater consumers using this water for purposes other than drinking or cooking. According to an asset index, well owners were significantly wealthier than both the customers purchasing their groundwater and those drinking or cooking with untreated groundwater. This suggests that shallow groundwater sources provide poorer urban households with a substantial volume of water for domestic purposes other than drinking and cooking. Ongoing challenges are thus to raise awareness of the health risks of such water among the minority of consumers who consume untreated groundwater and find means of working with well owners to manage well water quality
The Millennium Development Goals included a target to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015a right recognized as fundamental to human needs. Small independent water vendors are often the only water supply option in peri-urban neighbourhoods in developing countries and fill a critical gap in the municipal system, but there is concern about the quality and price of their water. Such vendors need to be recognized and regulated due to their role in meeting basic water needs. This article reflects on the lack of regulation and discusses a recent multidisciplinary research project in Kenya and Ethiopia that considered whether there is a case for regulation of competition, price and quality. It concludes that recognizing small independent water vendors as part of a regulatory framework will result in increased access to water for the poor and assist in the realization of the MDGs; the right to water; and, intergenerational equity.
This study pilots a participatory methodology for sub-national spatial planning of urban and peri-urban water and sanitation services. Three groups of key informants were presented with evidence on national historic and future service provision trajectories and asked to map water and sanitation access in the city of Kisumu, Kenya, by 2030, assuming current trends continue. Comparison of the groups' outputs suggests greater certainty among participants regarding service access in Kisumu's urban core compared to peri-urban areas. We discuss extensions to this preliminary methodology, including the potential benefits of its application to Kenya's rapidly expanding small towns as suggested by participants.
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