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.