Water kiosk operators achieve credibility in Nairobi slum

In Kenya, as in much of Africa, rapid urbanisation brings the growth of informal settlements. The people who live in these areas have little access to electricity, sanitation or water. The Kenyan water supply system is poorly managed and inconsistent in both coverage and availability.

Poor people in Kenyan cities often have to pay more for their water, and spend more time collecting it, than their better off neighbours who are connected to the utility system. Kibera is an informal settlement in Nairobi where around a quarter of the city’s population live. Very few inhabitants are connected to the water utility. Instead, most people buy their water from kiosks. Entrepreneurs lay pipes to the mains and sell water to residents by the bucket or jerry-can from a storage tank.

The Water and Sanitation Program in Africa (WSP-Africa) has worked with these vendors and the utility to improve the system for vendors and their clients. The costs of laying pipes, setting up a kiosk and high rates for buying water in bulk, as well as profiteering in times of water shortage, mean that buyers pay up to four times the national average for their water. Attempts have been made by the authorities to reduce rates for vendors buying water in bulk but the registration system for this rate is difficult and costly, so few vendors pay the lower rate.

In the past utility officials have had little incentive to improve the supply in Kibera because:

• Their revenues from official connections in Kibera are low. Inefficient management means they bill for less than 10 per cent of water delivered.
• Many water vendors fail to pay their bills.
• Illegal connections mean that a lot of water is stolen, so the utility has feared that more connections will simply increase the amount of water taken illegally.
• The water delivered to Kibera accounts for only 10 percent of the city’s total water consumption.
• Water vendors often fail to officially register because of regulations that make it difficult, such as the requirement to provide proof of land tenure and official employment.

A new Water Act in 2004 required the utility to make rapid improvements, including reducing the amount of water not paid for. This encouraged the utility to look for ways to regularise the many vendor connections in Kibera. With assistance from WSP-Africa, the vendors and water officials came together to find a way to improve their relationship. The vendors formed an association that has been able to explain their problems to the utility, improve understanding and get legal recognition for their businesses.

The Association has already seen some improvements, but still has a number of challenges to address. It has begun to:

• Assist its members to regularise illegal connections and arrange to pay arrears
• develop and advertise a code which promises consumers supplied by association members that they have an official connection and pay no bribes
• work out how to improve registration, billing and collection and leak reporting in discussion with officials

In future the association and utility will need to address the issue of solid waste clogging drains and contaminating water, consumer feedback systems, building vendors’ operating capacity and making it easier for new vendors to enter the market.

Source(s):
‘Rogues No More? Water Kiosk Operators Achieve Credibility in Kibera’ WSP Field Note, by Shagun Mehrotra, with final text by Clarissa Brocklehurst, under the team leadership of Alain Morel, June 2005 Full document.

Funded by: The Water and Sanitation Program in Africa (WSP-Africa)

id21 Research Highlight: 19 January 2006

Further Information:
Clarissa Brocklehurst
48 Lorne Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1R 7G7

Tel: +1 613 231 7297
Fax: +1 613 231 5257
Contact the contributor: cbrocklehurst@sympatico.ca

Water and Sanitation Program - Africa

Water and Sanitation Program - Africa
Hill Park Building
Upper Hill Road
PO Box 30577
Nairobi
Kenya

Tel: +254 20 322 6306
Fax: +254 20 322 6386
Contact the contributor: wspaf@worldbank.org

Clarissa Brocklehurst - water and sanitation specialist

Other related links:
'Higher prices are not enough to improve Kenyan water services'

'Listening to African consumers about water sector reform'

'Marketing water and sanitation to poor people'

'Halfway to 2015: is the watsan MDG achievable?'