Solving Nairobi's supply problems: Nairobi's water shortage is a result of drought and organisational weaknesses, writes Mwangi Mumero.(Water Supply)

LIVING IN ONE of Nairobi's sprawling informal settlements Josphine Ndile has to grapple with daily water problems while catering for her six-member family. A single mother of six, Ndile has to spend a huge part of her meagre salary, as a casual worker in the city's industrial area, for water needs.

In most of the slum areas, a 20-litre water jerrycan costs between Ksh5 and Ksh20, a big chunk of these poor residents' monthly incomes. "It is a daily struggle to keep clean and get enough water for the family", says Ndile as she does her washing outside the wooden shack that she calls home.

A survey conducted in city slums indicate that people without piped water spend 92 minutes daily collecting water, further affecting the productivity of these mainly urban poor. Matters are made worse because most of the water in the informal settlement has a high chance of becoming contaminated with industrial effluent and raw sewage. With most of the city's three million people residing in informal settlements, absence of water has continued to burden slum dwellers in the last few years. Nairobi is also home to Kibera and Mathare, some the biggest informal settlements in Eastern Africa.

The majority of the residents in these dwellings have no access to clean water and sewerage services. Research indicates that many residents of Kibera have no programme of receiving water and many are unsure as to when the next supply will arrive on their shared taps. Many complain of receiving water randomly and being caught unawares.

Research has also shown that in many slum areas, up to 500 people have to share a toilet or a communal tap. And it is not just the low-income areas in Nairobi that have serious water problems. Highly populated areas in Eastlands--eastern parts of the city like Kimathi, Eastleigh, Jerusalem, Jericho, Huruma, Bahati and Harambee Estates--have similar problems.