Landlord Julius Kamau inspects a new housing unit in Dandora, Nairobi, where WSUP and the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company have been working together to provide clean, reliable water
English
Alice Wambui, 50, who now has a reliable household water connection thanks to the work of WSUP and NCWSC, hangs out her washing in Dandora
Julius Kamau recently completed construction of 10 housing units in Dandora, all of which have been booked by tenants. Julius believes the reliable water supply the units offer has been key to boosting demand
Julius Kamau is one of a number of landlords in the informal settlement of Dandora in Nairobi to have invested in a legal water connection to his houses, in order to provide clean, reliable and affordable water to tenants.
‘Water and electricity are the key attraction points when looking for a home,’ says Julius Kamau. Julius is a budding landlord in Dandora, a low-income area of Nairobi in Kenya, who recently completed construction of 10 housing units in the settlement.
‘Now that we have both, many people will be attracted to living in this area, which will in turn influence demand for transport, hence boosting other sectors,’ he says.
Julius has lived in the densely populated settlement of Dandora all his life, and says this is the first time he has had an affordable, reliable water connection.
High prices for unsafe water
Rapid urbanisation in the area has led to a lack of individual household water connections and unregulated charges at public water points, leaving residents with no choice but to pay high prices for water that is often unsafe for consumption.
Julius used to buy water from vendors at KES 5 per 20-litre jerry can, and pay a further KES 10 for transporting it. His household uses a minimum of 100 litres every day, taking his expenditure on water to KES 75 a day.
Now Julius has become a customer of the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC), which recently took over a new 23.5km water pipe network constructed in Dandora by Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP). Working through the SWIFT programme, WSUP has provided 52,000 people in the informal settlement with access to clean, reliable water.
Legalising connections
WSUP and NCWSC have been working together to reduce ‘non-revenue water’ – water that has been produced but is not charged to a customer, as a result of leaks, metering inaccuracies, or theft – by legalising connections. NCWSC has set up a site office in Dandora to make it more convenient for customers to apply for connections and get responses to their queries.
To date, 930 landlords have applied for metered connections and are waiting for NCWSC to process their applications so that they can be connected to the new network.
‘I acquired a meter in 2011, but we did not get water at the time,’ remembers Julius. ‘When this project started, I went to the water company office and reapplied for a new connection, and now I have a connection at my home.’
Affordable, reliable water
Julius is now paying KES 54 per 1,000 litres of water from NCWSC, having invested around KES 7,500 for his connection. NCWSC hopes to complete around 3,000 plot connections by the end of 2016.
Julius and his neighbours are enjoying the new affordable, reliable water service. In addition to sparking the development of previously unused housing plots in Dandora, the recently completed water network has triggered the construction of sewerage extensions, and Julius is now optimistic that he will soon be connected to a sewer service as well.
In the meantime, he is delighted that the water supply his new houses boast has led to high demand. ‘I have barely completed construction and the units are all booked!’ he says.
