A PRESENTATION ON:
CHALLENGES IN WATER
SANITATION SERVICES
PROVISION IN KENYA
by
Eng. Prof. Patts M.A. Odira
Dean, School of Engineering
University of Nairobi, Kenya
[email protected]; [email protected]
Drainage basins of Kenya
Drainage Area
Catchment area
(km2)
Lake Victoria
46,229
Rift Valley
130,452
Athi River and Coast
66,387
Tana River
126,026
Ewaso Nyiro S. & North 210,226
Annual Rainfall
(mm)
1368
562
739
697
411
Population Pyramid
Introduction
•The water sector in Kenya is facing enormous challenges today
•Major sectors affected by poor provision of water supply and
sanitation services include:
¾Health
¾Industry and commerce
¾Agriculture
•In addition, women and children labour is spent more on
looking for water rather than for productive purposes.
• All these have contributed to the increase in poverty levels in
the country.
Introduction (cont..)
•Reforms in the water sector to restructure and improve
performance have been going on for the last 5 - 6 years with
long-term objective of a significant reduction in poverty levels
in the country.
•The reforms are guided by the Water Act 2002 that is based
on the principles of:
¾ Separation of supervision from regulation and policy
making;
¾Separation of management of water resources from water
supply and sanitation provision;
¾Decentralization, participation, autonomy, accountability,
financial and ecological sustainability and efficiency.
Institutional structure of water sector
Water and sanitation coverage:
• Access to safe (improved) water source is currently
estimated at 91% in urban areas and 53.1% in rural areas,
or a national average of about 60.4%
• Access to improved sanitation is estimated at 85.2% in
urban areas and 81.8% in rural areas, or a national
average of about 83%
• But regional disparities are very significant especially in
the rural areas e.g. 13.5% have access to safe water in
Bondo district compared to 92.6% in Nairobi.
• Similarly 15.3% of population in Wajir district have
access to improved sanitation compared to 99% in Central
Province
Water and sanitation coverage:
• Access to safe water supply:
Population
urban rural • Water on premises 64.1 23.4
• Less than 30mins 26.1 34.4
• 30mins and more 7.8 41.9
Access to sanitation:
urban rural • Improved sanitation (not shared) 34.3 21.8 • Improved (shared among households) 50.9 60.0 MDG Targets of access to water and sanitation in Kenya Historical Data
Targets
Base Reference Intermediate MDG
Monitoring
Year
1990
Access to safe drinking urban
2005
2010
2015
89.7
91
96
43.5
53.1
66
water
rural
Access to improved
urban
95
85.2
96
sanitation
rural
81
81.8
89
Population (Millions)
31
2000
21.4
30.2
33.4
39.5
40
Challenges
•Kenya has been identified as facing a complex water
resources crisis arising from the following situations:¾An extremely limited annual renewable fresh water resource per
capita.
¾A rapidly growing demand for water for multi-sectoral uses, on the
one hand, and diminution of natural storage capacity and lack of
development of artificial storage capacity to meet demand and to
buffer against shocks.
¾Sharing of over half of rivers, lakes and aquifers with neighbouring
countries, that complicates management of these water resources with
implications for regional security and development.
Challenges....
•Growing Population: The growing population
increases the demand for water for domestic use,
food security and industrial development. The
population growth trend (Figure 1) has resulted in
reduction of per capita water availability.
•Water scarcity: Kenya’s natural endowment of fresh
water is currently limited to an annual renewable fresh
water supply of only 540m3/per capita per year (Figure
2). In this regard, therefore, Kenya is classified as a
water scarce country.
Figure 1: Population growth
Figure 2: Renewable fresh water availability per capita
Source: Ministry of Water and Irrigation
P
Challenges...
Climate variability and Water Resources Degradation:
•Drought is recurrent and its impact on water resources is usually
devastating.
•Floods have led to disasters particularly in low-lying areas.
•Both climate variability and environmental degradation have
resulted into:¾Catchment degradation
¾Drying up of Rivers
¾Receding of lake levels
¾Heavy siltation in dams and pans meant for both
hydropower generation and water supplies
¾Deterioration of water quality
Annual Rainfall Variation about the Average
160%
140%
120%
100%
80%
Figure 3: Rainfall variability
19
80
19
78
19
74
19
76
19
72
19
70
19
66
19
68
19
64
19
62
19
60
F
19
58
19
56
60%
Challenges...
Storage and Infrastructure Investment:
•The storage capacity has been low due to the fact that
investment level in water management infrastructure
(especially large reservoirs) was on a declining trend for
many years.
•Catchment degradation has reduced groundwater recharge
and storage.
Water Demand: By 1992, studies indicated that water
demand would increase significantly from 2073 MCM/year
in the year 1990 to 5817 MCM/year in the year 2010.
Water resources development has not kept pace with this
demand.
Figure 4: Diminution of water storage
• Storage has reduced from 11.5m3/capita in 1969 to an
estimated level of 3m3/capita currently
AVAILABLE WATER STORAGE PER CAPITA IN CUBIC
METRES
STORAGE AVAILABLE PER
CAPITA IN CUBIC METRES
Storage
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1969
1979
YEAR
1989
1999
Challenges...
Climate change:
•It influences the Earth’s surface temperature, as well as the
amount, timing and intensity of precipitation, including
storms and droughts.
•On land, global warming affects freshwater availability
and quality, surface water run-off and groundwater
recharge, and the spread of water-borne disease vectors.
•Climate change is expected to exacerbate pressure,
directly or indirectly, on all aquatic ecosystems.
Challenges...
Catchment Degradation:
• The main causes of catchment degradation are
poor farming methods, population pressure and
deforestation
• By 1963 Kenya had 12% forest cover; this has
reduced to 1.7%
• Catchment degradation results in increased
runoff, flash flooding, reduced infiltration,
erosion and siltation.
Challenges..
• The new constitution has introduced new administrative
structures that will require amendments of the current
legal and institutional frameworks, in particular to cater
for anticipated devolvement to the county level;
• The political strength and/or will to implement the
reforms may not be sufficient to allow for creation of
efficient institutions;
• Sufficient financing, in particular from the government to
uphold institutional capacity may not be forthcoming;
• The capacity building exercise is insufficient to create
efficient and transparent institutions.
Challenges..
• Technical, financial and commercial management of
WSS utilities is poor, either because they cannot
attract the right people or because the utilities lack
conditions for proper commercial management.
• WSS utilities are either run down or operating below
requirements due to poor O&M
• Institutions for water resources management lack
qualified water resources engineers and planners;
staff without relevant experience were offloaded to
these institutions from Ministry of Water &Irrigation
• Funding for WRM is a challenge because it does not
generate funds like WSS utilities
Way fo r wa rd
In order to reverse this trend of water resources depletion and
erratic climatic variations, there is need to put in place:
¾Adequate investment in capacity building of WSS and Water
Resources managers
¾Effective management of water catchment areas
¾Construction of dams and pans, and initiate groundwater
recharge to increase water storage capacities,
¾Measures to curb water pollution by ensuring adherence to all
waste water treatment standards before disposal into the water
bodies,
¾Embrace IWRM principles in efficient use of existing water
resources including recycling and reuse of wastewater,
¾Judicious and rational apportionment of water resources
thereby avoiding water use conflicts.
Way fo r wa rd … . .
¾Improve the efficiency of water management and consumption
¾Increase capitation for development and conservation of water
resources and environment
¾Augment the existing sources of water with more sustainable
alternatives:
™ Rainwater harvesting and construction of storage
infrastructure
™Groundwater recharge
™Water recycling and wastewater reuse for:
‰Agriculture
‰Industry
‰Household use
‰Urban landscaping
THANK YOU ALL