Safe drinking water a pipe dream for many slum residents

 
By chacha

 Provision of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation may remain a pipe dream to residents of Mukuru slums despite living in the 21^st century and in the hub of the capital city Nairobi.

 Mukuru Slums  have a population of approximately 500,000 people according to the National census result of 2009.With that population in mind,  its only logical that these people have access to clean drinking water, good toilets, good infrastructure and services and good drainage and sewerage systems.

 However that is not the case as it is not part of Government policy to support development in what are considered illegal informal settlements.

 A visit to these slums could prove a hard task since the area is almost inaccessible especially during the rainy season. The rains simply transform the area into a nightmare.

It is during “these hard times” as the residents put it , that sewer lines block leading to the  polluted water finding its way into their 10 by 10 feet houses.

If the rains persist, they are forced to evacuate their humble homes and seek refuge in nearby churches, mosques and local administration premises which too are sometimes not spared by the wrath of industrial effluent and polluted rain water.

 Health problems caused by lack of clean water and adequate sanitation are rampant here. Malnutrition, diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, pneumonia, malaria,  common cold and  fever are some of the cases that affect mostly children.

Lack of proper sanitation is an  issue of urgency here and although pay toilets have been set-up, the cost of accessing them remains high  forcing them to use low-tech methods such as mobile toilets, buckets collection, composting and the most popular the flying toilets which litter the area and make it uncondusive for human habitation.

 Kenya has 117 water service providers which are linked to 8 regional water service boards across the country and are in charge of asset management through service provision Agreement.

The National Water Service Regulatory board (WASREB) carries out performance benchmarking and is also in charge of approving tariff adjustments in the country.

With such proper governing mechanism on board, it’s expected that water should reach even arid parts of this country but the bitter truth is that only nine out of 55 water service providers in the country provide continuous water supply.

With the growing population in Mukuru Slums, the existing water and sanitation facilities will be stretched even further. Lack of resources and inability to address the increasing demand on clean water and adequate sanitation system throughout the mukuru slums may not only threaten the viability of the capital city as a whole but could transform relatively viable areas within the city into slums.