Accessibility of water services in Kisumu municipality, Kenya

Abstract

One of the key challenges to the developing countries is increasing access to safe water supply to the rapidly
growing urban population, consequently, billions of dollars have been invested in pursuit of the goal of
“universal service” and yet the realization of that goal is still elusive. Based on cross sectional survey and
purposive sampling of 367 households, this paper examines the level of accessibility to privatized water
services in Kisumu Municipality. The Kenyan study shows that the proportion of households with access to
piped water supply within a distance of 200 m is 77.1%, only 65.6% of the basic water requirements of the
residents are met and that only 25% of the households access the minimum recommended 50 l/c/d. The low
income households and low levels of investment in water infrastructure are related to reduced access to water
services. Expanded access to safe water services may only be realized if upfront investment is made on
rehabilitation and extension of existing water network in addition to upgrading of treatment plant, thus reducing
the cost of maintenance and unaccounted for water and making better use of economies of scale. New water
ethics and demand-based service delivery should also be adopted for better management and services.