Kenya: Profiting From Better Sanitation

Like any other Kenyan slum, Waruku settlement, part of Nairobi’s sprawling Kangemi slums is bursting under population pressure. The mud and corrugated iron walled shanties are packed together – neighbours can literally talk to each other from the comfort of their beds. Plots are separated by footpaths that are often just centimetres wide, some of which double as drainage channels.

Drinking water has to be bought from vendors, sometimes without knowing where it comes from. There is hardly any space for sinking pit latrines. Waruku residents often drop their faecal matter into plastic bags, and then fling them above the slum canopy, Nairobi slums’ infamous ‘flying toilets.’

Teresia Wasuka, mother of five, has lived as a squatter in Waruku settlement, for several years. In 2007, she joined a collective savings group. She contributed towards building toilets for her community, in return Teresia Wasuka is getting a home to call her own.

Source: Isaiah Esipisu, Inter Press Service /allAfrica.com, 6 March 2011

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Kenya: Mombasa Water Vendors Warned

Selling water at more than Sh2 per 20 litre jerrycan will attract a heavy punishment including withdrawal of licences, water vendors have been warned.

Mombasa Water and Sewerage Company managing director Moses Kinya said water vendors should not take advantage of the shortage in Mombasa and other parts of the region to oppress customers by overcharging them. “This is a measure we have taken after receiving reports that some of the water vendors are overcharging their customers,” said Kinya.

Water vendors in Bamburi, Mtopanga and Kisauni are charging as much as Sh7 per 20 litre jerrycan. Kinya said they have put in place other strict rules in order to ensure health safety.

The MWSC boss said they will not issue a license to water kiosks that are less than 100 metres apart. He also cautioned them that unhygienic premises will attract a heavy fine in addition to withdrawal of their license. “They must ensure that the area they sell water from is hygienically maintained and that the place is always drained and dry,” said Kinya.

The vendors usually buy water from the company at cheaper rates. After withdrawal of the licences, the vendors will continue getting water but they will be charged at normal domestic rates.

The vendors will also be required to display the Sh2 price, the kiosk number and the metre number. “Failure to do this will also result in the withdrawal of licenses,” said Kinya.

Source: Brian Otieno, Nairobi Star / allAfrica.com, 3 March 2011

Kenya: Nairobi water board sent packing, acute water shortages persist in cities

The entire board of the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company was sent packing over alleged mismanagement on 8 July 2009. A full council meeting of the City Council of Nairobi made the move citing unfair water rationing and illegal connections that have seen millions of cubic litres of water lost even with the rains failing substantially. The council fully owns the water company which was constituted in 2004 to streamline water operations.

Several residential areas in the city have not seen a drop of water for the last four months. The crisis has prompted residents of Kayole Estate to hold a protest demonstration alleging corruption in water supply and management.

“We note with a lot of concern that there are staff members who are involved in the cartels that have illegally connected water, worsening the water shortage,” said Nairobi’s Mayor Geofrey Majiwa.

There have been warnings of an outbreak of water-borne diseases due to the acute water shortage with some residents resorting to using water from contaminated rivers and boreholes. Since late December 2008, there have been 4,000 confirmed cases of cholera and 89 deaths recorded in Kenya.

Water vendors have been making a killing with a 20 litre jerrican retailing at between Sh10 and 50. For a 5,000-litre lorry, one has to part with Sh5,000. Ironically, these vendors buy the water from the boreholes for Sh500 for the same capacity.

The situation is the same in Mombasa where many residents go for as long as one month without water. “Despite paying monthly bills to the Mombasa Water and Sewerage Company, we have to rely on water from vendors,” says Michael Embasa, a newspaper vendor living in Likoni.

In Nakuru, some factories, including Flamingo Bottlers, Coil Product Kenya Limited and Kapi Limited, have been shut down due to perennial water shortages, while here also residents increasingly depend on vendors.

But the problem is worse in some low- income estates like Bondeni, Kaptembwa and Kwa Rhonda, where the residents are struggling to put a meal on the table. The water is sold at Sh20 per 20-litre can.

Ms Mary Kamau of Pangani Estate said the water problem had made life more difficult given the current hard economic times. “Washing my family’s clothes has become very difficult because the water is expensive,” she said.

“You do not know whether to buy water or food. It is even worse for us because vendors sell water in large quantities only, which makes it unaffordable for poor families,” she added and urged the government to intervene.

The water ministry is however optimistic, promising Kenyans that the situation will improve by December 2009. In June 2009, the government signed an MOU with the New York-based firm, EarthWater Global, for ground water exploration, starting Nairobi before expanding to the rest of the country.

Source: Casper Waithaka, Daily Nation / allAfrica.com, 08 Jul 2009 ; KBC, 11 Jul 2009 ; Sapa-AFP / IOL, 08 Jul 2009 ; Dave Opiyo, Daily Nation / allAfrica.com, 12 Jul 2009 ; Daily Nation / allAfrica.com, 23 Jun 2009

Nigeria: A Peep Into the Life of Abuja Water Vendors – We’re the Real Water Board, Says Mai Ruwa

The FCT Water Board authorities are always chasing Mai Ruwa, the name for local water vendors, away, particularly from the highbrow areas of Maitama, Asokoro and Wuse II. {Since] the Board [...] seems to be finding it difficult to meet the federal capital’s water needs. [...] residents readily welcome Mai Ruwa. There is hardly any street without water truck pushers, including those in Maitama, Gwarinpa and Asokoro areas.Sleeping under a tree and trying to get some rest was what Sule Maikano, a water vendor, was doing before continuing with his tedious job of supplying water to a neighbourhood in Asokoro. Sule narrated his daily experience and how he goes about doing his job to Weekly Trust.

[...] “I have to wake up very early to go and queue for water at the borehole so that we can supply our various customers. The borehole people do not make things any better as they keep increasing the money for purchasing water and by the time we try to sell it to get our money back and make a little profit, our customers complain, making us to sell at a loss”.

Read more: Amina Alhassan and Umma Umar Muhammed, Daily Trust / allAfrica.com, 14 Feb 2009
14 February 2009

Somalia: Finding Water in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, Aug 13 (IPS) – Pipes, reservoirs and water treatment plants in south and central Somalia have been extensively vandalised in the years since the collapse of Siad Barre’s government in 1991. In the long absence of central authority, Mogadishu’s residents have devised their own informal water distribution systems, but there are many shortcomings.

The Bimalow neighborhood, one of the few remaining populated pockets in Hawlwadag district in the south of Mogadishu, is served by a well. All the public pipes have been looted, so like other privately-owned wells in the city, the Bimalow well’s management has laid a backbone of its own pipes.

The wealthier households in the area pay for additional pipes to connect their homes. Water is pumped from the well into huge tanks perched on structures above the neighbourhood, and gravity does the rest.

[...]

There are a number water purification plants [and bottling plants] that supply purified drinking water to those who can afford the luxury.

[...]

The price of the water in Mogadishu varies from one area to another. The bigger the neighbourhood, the cheaper the water. The cost ranges from 17,000 Somali shillings for a 200 litre barrel to as much as 30,000 Somali shillings a barrel — roughly 1 dollar.

[...]

Bimalow’s small scale water system is replicated all over Mogadishu.

Source: Abdurrahman Warsameh, IPS, 13 Aug 2008

Tanzania: Running Water Remains a Pipe Dream for Many

Less than a quarter of the four million people living in Tanzania’s financial capital have running water in their homes, city water authorities say. With poor areas typically amongst those lacking piped water, most impoverished city dwellers rely on private vendors to bring them supplies.

As a consequence, low-income residents pay higher prices for the vital resource than their wealthy counterparts in plush suburbs. A 20-litre bucket of water has a price tag of about 16 cents, while the same amount piped through a home faucet costs less than one cent, according to London-based non-profit WaterAid. This means a family of five, dependent on the services of water vendors, could spend up to about 84 cents a day on water (although most residents cut back to save money).The

In an initiative to extend water provision, the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Corporation (DAWASCO) has started to build centrally located water distribution points in areas where piped water is not yet widely available. Dozens of kiosks are up and running, and hundreds more planned, although many are plagued with erratic water supplies. The going rate for a 20-litre canister of water at one of the kiosks is just four cents apiece.

Read more: Sarah McGregor, IPS, 27 May 2008