SUSTAINABLE WATER

In Kenya’s northern Arid and Semi-Arid Lands region, many remote rural communities have limited access to clean water; women and children in particular may spend several hours a day walking to the nearest water source and carrying as much as they can all the way home again.

SWIFT partners Oxfam, Concern and Practical Action have improved the water infrastructure in the region by drilling boreholes; equipping them with solar pumping systems; improving pipelines; and installing hand-pumps, including the low-maintenance BluePump.

In the informal settlements of Nairobi, many people receive water that is at high risk of being contaminated. They may have access to it for only a few hours a day or even a week, and it may be at an inconvenient time, such as the middle of the night. In addition, they may have to pay as much as 10 times the official tariff for it.

WSUP has worked with the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) to upgrade the water network and reduce ‘non-revenue water’: water that has been produced but is ‘lost’ before it reaches the customer, through leaks, metering inaccuracies, or theft. In some areas, NRW can be above 90% due to the existence of illegal connections.

WSUP constructed a new 23.5km water-pipe network in the informal settlement of Dandora. It has been integrated with the existing network, which has been boosted with higher water pressures in order to improve water-supply hours.

SWIFT is working hard to ensure the improvements in access to clean water it is achieving will be sustainable long after the programme has ended. See also ‘An environmental sustainability assessment tool’ in ‘Sustainable water in DRC’, below.

Promoting legal water connections

In Nairobi’s informal settlements, for example, WSUP is working with the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) to legalise illegal connections to the water network. They have jointly embarked on a mass promotion with the aim of connecting 3,000 new and reactivated water meters to the existing network.

An NCWSC site office was been opened that also serves as a customer care and complaints centre on water issues for residents. A team of local promoters carried out the plot-to-plot distribution of application forms for water connections to landlords. And WSUP’s and NCWSC’s field sociologists worked closely with the community project task team, landlords and residents to understand potential customer groups, their attitudes, practices, perceptions and preferences, and their willingness to pay for an improved service.

Strategies used to raise awareness of the campaign include holding landlord meetings in each village; speaking at barazas, the public meetings convened by Chiefs; holding task-team meetings with communities; and using promotional materials such as banners and posters.

Building the capacity of water utility companies

Oxfam has been working in partnership with a number of water utility companies in Kenya. At four sites in Wajir, where Oxfam drilled boreholes and installed solar pumping systems, management responsibility for the water systems has been given to the Wajir Water and Sewerage Company (WAJWASCO).

The Oxfam team has been building capacity at WAJWASCO to strengthen its capacity and support it in taking over management oversight of the village water user associations that have been set up. As part of this, electronic water dispensers (or water ‘ATMs’) have been installed in some villages to make it easier for people to access water and ensure payment reaches the water utility company. Avoiding the need for money to be passed from customer to kiosk attendant reduces the risk of corruption, and providing a clear electronic record of transactions increases the transparency and accountability of the revenue-collection process.

Meanwhile, in Turkana, SWIFT has been building capacity at the Lodwar Water and Sanitation Company (LOWASCO), through activities which will continue until the end of the programme in 2018. A capacity-building plan was also implemented for the water provider in Kakuma, KAWASE PRO.

Training water user associations and vendors

Another approach SWIFT has taken to ensure sustainability is the training of village-level water management committees in rural areas of the north. Practical Action, for example, has trained a number of water user associations in Turkana.

DRC has abundant water resources, but decades of conflict have seen infrastructure destroyed and a chronic lack of investment, leaving many people without access to clean water.

Tearfund and Oxfam’s partners HYFRO, AVUDS and YME Grands Lacs are working to improve and expand the water infrastructure, through activities including constructing and rehabilitating protected springs; constructing spring-fed gravity water systems; and constructing hand-dug wells.

SWIFT is implementing a number of activities to ensure the sustainability of its improvements to the water infrastructure in DRC.

An environmental sustainability assessment tool

SWIFT partners ODI and Tearfund developed an environmental tool to enable partners to assess the sustainability of water supply sources in terms of yield, and hazards that may need to be managed.

The tool addresses the following questions regarding chosen water sources:

• Is there enough water of suitable quality to meet demand across seasons for the long-term?
• What are the main environmental risks to ensuring a sustainable supply of safe water?
• How can these risks be mitigated?

You can read a learning brief introducing the environmental sustainability assessment tool, and the tool itself in full, on our Resources page.

Developing the VEA approach for semi-urban areas

SWIFT has developed an inclusive, community-driven approach for the specific requirements of semi-urban contexts. The process has involved technical support from an additional WASH engineer and local development organisation ADIR (Action pour le Développement des Infrastructures en milieu Rural, or Action for Community Development in Rural Areas), as well as the involvement of government bodies and community groups to ensure the approach is sustainable. SWIFT is constantly refining the new system in light of its experiences in semi-urban settings.

Water User Committees in rural areas

All SWIFT partners implementing the VEA approach (see also ‘Sustainable sanitation in DRC‘) ensured that from the first meetings that took place in target villages, communities were aware that water-user fees would be set for the water points. The communities themselves agreed the tariff levels, in conjunction with the local water authorities, based on predicted costs. Water User Committees (WUCs) were then established for each water point to collect user fees, in line with government guidelines.

SWIFT provides training to the committees on the financial management of the fees, and deposit and withdrawal processes. The fees collected are used to pay for simple repairs, fencing of the water points, the cost of labour to clean out tanks, replacement of taps, and eventually the replacement of PVC pipes. A bank of tools and spare parts has been set up for the WUCs.

WUCs are monitored and followed up with on a regular basis to ensure good financial management. Records are kept on water-point functionality, down times, repairs made and repair costs, so that water fees can be recalculated if required.