Factors influencing access to safe drinking water in urban centers of Kenya: Case of Kisumu city

Abstract

Though the central role of water in all spheres of human development and the MDG is universally recognized, its availability remains a key challenge. For the effective realization of safe drinking water goals to be achieved, the current status of access by residential area and factors influencing the same needs to be established. The study therefore sort to establish factors influencing safe drinking water coverage in Kisumu guided by four key objectives namely to establishing the current status of safe water coverage and distribution of the same by category of residential neighbourhoods in Kisumu City; Establish Factors influencing safe water coverage in the City; Establish implication of current status to the attainment of overall water specific Millennium Development Goals in Kisumu City; and identify and recommend opportunities for effective access to safe water and proper sanitation coverage 111 Kisumu City. A total of 823 respondents were sampled from all the 11 administrative locations of Kisumu City and interviewed using household questionnaires. The study established that the City has fairly good water coverage with 77 % of the residents accessing water from safe sources of -. whom 63% get water from piped network. However, Kisumu has significant inequity in safe water distribution and when subjected to quality service standards of sustained reliability, affordability and acceptance, then the city has very low safe water coverage of only 10%. The study has proposed that both Lake Victoria Water Service Board and KJWASCO should institutionalize time bound measure for realization of quality safe drinking water coverage and encouraging Public Private Partnership as it address the serious concerns on high water tariff in the city.