Photo: Lumino Containarised Water Project in Kakamega County, Kenya financed on PPP at US$765,000 serving 8,000 Households
Water has a profound bearing on health, human dignity. Inequalities in access to safe rural drinking as an input for economic growth towards alleviating poverty reinforce wider inequalities in opportunities. This blog explores the economic significance of improved water access, its role as a fundamental input for economic growth, and the challenges faced by Kakamega County’s rural water sector.
A Well Governed and Effective Rural Water Sector has Potential to Spur its Economic Growth and Alleviate Poverty Levels
The case for strengthening the Rural Water Sector in Kakamega County, Kenya continues to be solid; across Sub-Saharan Africa, universal access to improved water and basic sanitation could lead to economic gains of 34.7 billion USD per year. The UN calculates a global cost-benefit ratio of 2.0 times more for improved drinking water. Kenya’s development blueprint, Vision 2030, targets a 10% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate per year from 2012 to 2030. Water plays a fundamental role in enabling this growth as a necessary input for agriculture, manufacturing, blue economy and so on, in fact 78% of jobs globally are dependent on water. Similarly in Kakamega County, Water is an essential resource for economic growth, health and quality of life. Recognizing this, the County Government of Kakamega aims to ensure access to improved water for all by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goal six and its current Governor’s Political Manifesto for the year 2022-2027 affirmed and budgeted for in their County Integrated Development Plan 2022-2027; the main planning document guiding Counties development.
Systemic Challenges in Kakamega’s Rural Water Functionality in the year 2012
Overall and nationally, the strategy for Socially Responsible Commercialisation (SRC) as pioneered by the Water Act of 2002 was successful in urban and peri-urban areas in Kenya but the concept dismally realised its potential in the rural areas where service provision areas are small, water coverage, usage and willingness to pay is low. Towards addressing the challenge, the Community Based Management Model was rolled out with an objective of empowering communities towards enhancing sustainability. There are few cases of the success of the model, Kakamega County faced the following challenges:
- Rural Water Knowledge Gap: Kenya’s National Water Services Regulatory Board (WASREB) Impact Report 10 indicated that it is ‘not in a position to provide detailed information on rural areas with regards to rural water supply and sanitation coverage’. This information gap made it impossible to respond to key rural water indicators in Kakamega County and undermined assessing whether investments were translated to impact reflected in increased water coverage. This also explained why despite Kakamega County being predominantly rural, water sector investments were skewed towards the urban water sub-sector that had validated data.
- Non-Functionality and Weak Management of Rural Water Supplies: A Water Point Mapping (WPM) Report by SNV Kenya in 2012 revealed that 59% of Kakamega water points had no professional manager. Those managed by voluntary Water Management Committees (WMCs) reported non-compliance, unaccountability and lack of skills in managing and operating the water supplies. This was worrying because in case of a breakdown, the water supplies stood a high risk of complete abandonment. Further 60% of residents in rural areas did not pay for water. The lack of consumer focus and incentives for private sector contributed to the inability to attract alternative financing support. The limited funds, when available from NGOs and public authorities, were depleted in maintenance with no or minimal resources available to expand services to un-served areas.
- Equity and Inclusion: The WPM exposed a concern about fair budget allocation and distribution of infrastructure in rural areas. The poor purchased unreliable poor-quality water from vendors at higher rates compared to those with household connections. The glaring evidence that some areas had fewer safe water infrastructure was attributed to politics; areas that voted the government of the day had better allocations.
Understanding the importance of a resilient rural water sector in alleviating poverty sets the foundation for exploring innovative approaches and partnerships in the next blog of “Service Delivery Management Models, Good Political and Water Governance for Strong Rural Water Systems.”
About the author:
Euphresia Luseka is a Water Governance Specialist and Co-Lead of RWSN Leave No-One Behind Theme. She is a seasoned Expert with experience in leadership, strategy development, partnerships and management in WASH sector nationally, regionally and internationally. She has specialised in WASH Public Policy, Business Development Support Strategies and Institutional Strengthening of urban and rural WASH Institutions. Euphresia has several publications and research work in her field.
Credits for the Photos: Euphresia Luseka
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