Sanitation For Site And Service Schemes

Abstract

The recent national census which revealed that Kenya's population shot up by 50 percent. over the last decade has caused a lot of concern to the country's planners and has underlined the clear need for an urgent review of present planning methodologies. Kenya's annual growth rate of 3.9 percent is one of the highest if not the highest figure in the world. Over the remaining years of this century capital resources will be strained to the limits, reflecting the economic and social move towards industralisation. Natural population increase in the urban areas combined with rural-urban migration will exacerbate an already deteriorating housing situation. Particularly, the growth of families in the low-income bracket (K.Shs.200 - K.Shs.l,400 monthly) will become a serious liability for urban councils. Official house construction for the low income population has always been a meagre percentage of actual needs. Therefore, the current trend of the Kenyan Government is to move away from actual house building to the provision of services only. The current implementation of site and service schemes and squatter upgrading programmes reftect this trend. In the sanitation field, it is becoming clear, that conventional sewerage is both too costly and frequently inappropriate for the situation. This study will try to identify some of the possible alternatives.