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Waiting at the tap: deteriorating urban water supply in East Africa

A safe, clean, reliable water supply is the mantra of development agencies. But how reliable are water supply services for poor people in the developing world today? How has domestic water supply changed since the 1960s? This study looks at the long-term trends in access to and use of water.

There has been a dramatic decline in water use in East Africa since the late 1960s, according to new research by the UK International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and partners in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The availability of piped water has changed considerably since 1967: some areas have gained a piped water supply, while others that had piped water in 1967 now do not. Although in some places there was an improvement in domestic water use, the reliability of municipal piped water supplies declined. Those without access spent considerably more time on water collection. Significantly, private water kiosks and vendors, where supplies cost nearly twice as much as piped water from public sources, continue to play as important role as they did 30 years ago.

Despite divergent political paths, a common feature in all the countries studied is the increased role of the private sector, particularly of NGOs and CBOs, in service delivery. Such groups are dependent on links with the state and many are run by the state. Both the state and the voluntary sector in turn are increasingly dependent on donor funding.

Further significant differences in water provision in East Africa between the late 1960s and late 1990s, include:

Average per capita water use declined from 99 to 55 litres per day.
Due to the collapse of municipal piped systems, the ratio of piped to unpiped households fell from 8:1 to 3:1.
Unpiped households use less than half the amount of water for hygiene uses (e.g., cleaning and bathing) compared with those having piped supplies.
The percentage of households receiving 24 hour service delivery fell from almost 100 percent to 56 percent. 30 percent of households have five hours or less of water per day.
Private kiosks have become the main alternative source of water for almost 40 percent of piped households, and the main source of water for 24 percent of unpiped households.
The time spent collecting water rose from 9.3 minutes per trip to 21.4 minutes per trip. Although the average distance travelled decreased, queuing increased.

In order to ensure efficient provision of water supplies for the growing populations of East Africa, the study listed a number of important policy lessons including:

The state and external agencies are vital for improving water and environmental health services. Without them, many of the voluntary sector services on which current provision relies would collapse.
Many water and environmental health services will continue to rely on external donor support.
Innovative and flexible policies, including demand-responsive approaches , would enhance the provision of water to the poor in both urban and rural areas
For the development of water services to be sustainable new public-private partnerships, involving the state, NGOs, private actors, and foreign donors, will have to be created and institutions strengthened.

Source(s):
'Waiting at the Tap: Changes in Urban Water Use in East Africa Over Three Decades', Environment and Urbanisation 12/2 by John Thompson et al, 2000

id21 Research Highlight: 28 June 2002

Further Information:
John Thompson
International Institute for Environment and Development
3 Endsleigh Street
London WC1H 0DD
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7388 2117
Fax: +44 (0)20 7388 2826
Contact the contributor: john.thompson@iied.org

IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development), UK

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