Water supply and sanitation in Nairobi is characterised by achievements and challenges. Among the achievements is the expansion of infrastructure to keep pace with population growth, in particular through the construction of the Thika Dam and associated water treatment plant and pipelines during the 1990s; the transformation of the municipal water department into an autonomous utility in 2003; and the more recent reduction of water losses—technically called non-revenue water – from 50 to 40%.
Challenges include poor quality and intermittent water supply (only 40% of those with house connections receive water continuously), the loss of storage capacity in reservoirs behind dams through siltation accelerated by erosion in the Aberdare Range, lack of access to adequate sanitation in slums where half the population of the city lives, blockages of sewers resulting in overflows, and unused capacity in the city's largest wastewater treatment plant in Dandora. Another problem is political infighting and corruption, leading to the firing of the entire Board of the Nairobi Water Company in 2009.
History The history of water supply to Nairobi since the city was founded as a rail outpost in 1899 has been to a large extent a history of tapping ever more distant water sources to supply a rapidly expanding city with sufficient water. Other challenges faced included the reduction of water distribution losses, reaching the poor in slums, expanding sewerage and wastewater treatment, and strengthening the Nairobi water utility.
Supply expansion The source of the first piped water supply system of Nairobi were the Kikuyu springs and the Kabete treatment plant developed in 1906. This was followed by the Ruiru dam in 1936 and the Sasumua Dam on the Chania River in 1945, both located in the Aberdare Range north of Nairobi, as well as local deep wells. In the 1970s these sources were not any more sufficient to supply the growing city during the dry season and financing for a new and larger dam, the Thika Dam, was mobilised to alleviate growing water shortages. The dam and the associated pipeline and water treatment plant were financed by the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the European Investment Bank and the Japanese OECF. Gross water availability increased from 165 litres per capita and day in 1976 to 200 in 1995.World Bank Operations Evaluation Department:"Kenya: Development of Housing, Water Supply, and Sanitation in Nairobi," by Tauno Skytta and Jean-Francois Landeau. Report No. 15586, April 1996. When the Thika dam came on stream the last wellfield used by the city for piped water supply was closed down so that the city began to rely exclusively on surface water.
Water loss reduction In parallel with the tapping of new water sources, efforts were undertaken to reduce water distribution losses by introducing a metered zoning system. According to a World Bank evaluation, the system allowed to "significantly reduce water losses". In 1998 non-revenue water, which includes physical losses as well as administrative losses such as illegal water use and undermetering, had thus been reduced to 27–30%.African Development Bank:Project Completion Report:Third Nairobi Water Supply Project, July 1998, p. 16 However, water losses subsequently must have increased again, because in 2010 the Nairobi Water and Sewer Company declared that it had successfully achieved a reduction of non-revenue water from 50 to 40%. The regulatory agency WASREB estimated non-revenue water in Nairobi at 40% in 2008/09 and at 42% in 2009/10.
Water kiosks in slums
A particular challenge in Nairobi has been and still is how to provide sufficient and affordable water to half its population living in slums. Since the 1970s, the slum residents with piped water connections-built water kiosks where they resell water to other residents in buckets. The number of water kiosks in slums increased from about 150 in 1978 to nearly 1,500 in 1994. The municipal water department recommended a resale price, but could not enforce it, so the poorest end up paying much more compared to people who have tap water in their house.
Sewerage and wastewater treatment Another challenge is sanitation. A sewer system for the central district was built in the late colonial period and the first wastewater treatment plant was completed at Kariobangi just east of the city in 1961, shortly before independence. A second wastewater treatment plant was commissioned in 1980 in Dandora further East and further downstream on the Nairobi River.
In 1994 a substantial expansion of the plant was completed, making it the largest plant of its kind – a stabilization pond plant – in Africa. In parallel, an effort was made to expand the sewerage system. With the new infrastructure, the discharge of liquid waste in open drains declined considerably and for a period between 1987 and 1995 the water quality of the Nairobi River improved. However, the discharge of untreated wastewater in non-sewered areas continued. Because of inadequate garbage collection and poor maintenance, sewers became clogged and overflowed so that the benefits of the sewerage were less than expected. Furthermore, the Kariobangi plant was poorly maintained and stopped functioning so that the wastewater bypassed it and was discharged without treatment into the Nairobi river.
Sector reforms: From city department to utility
Another challenge was of an institutional nature: The Water and Sewer Department (WSD) of the city had difficulties retaining qualified staff because of its salary structure that made it uncompetitive compared to the private sector and other parastatals. For example, out of 57 staff sent for training in 1996–97, one third had left by 1998. The morale of those who remained was said to be low. Furthermore, cost recovery was low and declining. For political reasons tariffs were increased less than the inflation rate, so that real tariff levels declined between 1988 and 1998. Furthermore, the devaluation of the Kenyan Shilling in the early 1990s led to high losses because the utility was indebted in foreign currency. The sustainable operation and maintenance of the water and sanitation infrastructure waerethus in jeopardy because of la ack of financial resources.African Development Bank:Project Completion Report:Third Nairobi Water Supply Project, July 1998, p. 12-13 and p. 18
In 2002 the government approved a major sector reform that, among other things, resulted in the transformation of the city water and sewer department into a legally and financially autonomous utility called the Nairobi City Water & Sewerage Company in 2003. Physical assets were transferred to an Asset Holding Company, the Athi Water Services Board, which signed a performance contract with the new operating utility. The reform was designed to allow utilities to offer higher salaries to qualified staff, to insulate decisions about tariff adjustments from political interference, to improve the financial viability of utilities and to ultimately improve service quality.
2009 drought In 2009 the dry season was longer than usual and the reservoir of the Thika Dam, which has a storage capacity of 70m cubic metres, held only 26m cubic metres of water at the height of the drought. Environmentalists attributed the low water levels not only to the failed rains, but also to the destruction of forests in the Aberdare Range BBC:Nairobi water 'stolen for farms', 10 July 2009, Retrieved 6 November 2011 Erosion reduces the storage capacity of the reservoir and water quality has been reduced by pesticide runoff. The Nairobi water utility drilled emergency wells during the drought and connected them to the piped network, relying again on groundwater about a decade after the utility had closed down its last wellfield.
2009 sacking of the Nairobi Water Company Board The drought coincided with the campaign for the Nairobi mayoral election, thus triggering a political crisis. In July 2009 the Nairobi City Council sacked the entire board of the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company for "malpractices". This was in the wake of the publication of a report by Transparency International-Kenya and the Kenyan NGO Maji Na Ufanisi (Water and Development). The report had found cases of bribery for illegal connections, tampering with meter readings and diversion of water from domestic users to industries in five cities, with the highest incidence of bribery in Nairobi. However, according to a report by NTV (Kenya) "some of the failures blamed on the board can be traced to members of the city council." The elections were won by incumbent mayor Geoffrey Majiwa. However, he had to step down himself a year later because of corruption allegations.Daily Nation, 28 October 2010: Nairobi mayor leaves office over cemetery scandal
Plans for further supply expansion
In August 2010 the Athi Water Services Board presented a 24-year, US$1 billion master plan to more than double surface water supply to Nairobi by delivering an additional 750,000 m3 of water from the Irati, Gikigie, Maragua and other rivers north of Nairobi. Financing is expected from the French Development Agency and the World Bank.Mbugua Njoroge: 1 USD billion Master Plan to Tap City’s Water Woes, Retrieved 6 November 2011
Access
Of Nairobi's 3.14 million inhabitants at night, a number that swells to about 5 million during the day, only about 50 per cent have direct access to piped water. The rest obtain water from kiosks, vendors, illegal connections, or wells. Only about 40 per cent of those with access to piped water receive water 24 hours per day. On average, residents of Nairobi received water for only 11 hours per day in 2009/10, a level deemed unacceptable by the Water Sector Regulatory Board.
Water quality The Nairobi water utility NCWSC says it has stringent water quality monitoring programs to ensure the water they supply the city is safe for drinking. However, due to high leakage in the network and intermittent supply, treated water is sometimes recontaminated before it reaches the tap. According to the Water Sector Regulatory Board, in 2009/10 only 76% of drinking water samples complied with standards for bacteriological quality, a level deemed unacceptable by the regulator. This was the case despite a high level of chlorination that was deemed acceptable by the regulator, with 91% of samples complying with the norms for residual chlorine. Also, sometimes water is contaminated because of pipe bursts. For instance, over 10 fatalities from waterborne diseases were experienced in the slum Mukuru kwa Njenga in 2009. Those who can afford it boil or filter water before drinking it, or buy bottled water. Those who cannot afford this are forced to take their chances with tap water.
Water sources Nairobi residents receive water through the piped network and pump water from their own deep wells. Water supply from both sources is about 570,000 m3/day. If one takes into account that the population of Nairobi swells to 5 million during ime, this corresponds to less than 120 litre per capita per day before distribution losses. However, water is not equally distributed: Wealthier users with access to piped water use much more than average, while those without access to piped water receive much less. Half of Nairobi's population lives in slums, but they consume only 34,500 m3/day, corresponding to less than 20 litre per capita per day. The heavily polluted and relatively small Nairobi River that flows through the city is not used for drinking water supply.
Surface water