Tia Goldenberg
16 January 2006
Nairobi — After rationing was introduced following prolonged drought, residents of Kibera have to grapple with dry taps, not to mention illegal vendors who cause artificial shortages
It's January and it's hot in the narrow streets of the high density Kibera area of Nairobi.
A small stream of murky, green water flows on the ground and a man bends to drink from its source, a makeshift plastic pipe.
"That one is illegal," Mr Edmond Odaba says as we walk through the slum searching for other illegal water connections. Mr Odaba is a project officer for the Kenya Water for Health Organisation, and spends almost everyday trying to solve the water crisis in this part of the city.
Kibera, like other estates in Nairobi, is facing a water shortage. Rationing was introducing at the beginning of the dry season.
But the problem of water scarcity is amplified by illegal water vendors who drive up prices, sell unhygienic water and cause artificial shortages.
Turning a blind eye
Some residents claim that the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company's employees are turning a blind eye to the shortage after receiving bribes.
An official from the company, which oversees the distribution of water in the city, says it has come to terms with the fact that it is having difficulties rectifying the water crisis in the slums on its own.
Mr Joseph Kimani, the technical director at the company, says: "We are having challenges, but we are not giving up."
The company has decided to call a workshop, which all interested parties say is needed to root out the vandals and keep track of who is managing the water. But the details of where and when the workshop will take place are yet to be decided.
The situation in the slums is so bad, Mr Kimani says, that because of the illegal connections, the company loses between 30 and 40 per cent of the water it distributes to Nairobi.
Mr Kimani's view is that because they live in an informal settlement, residents of Kibera believe they are entitled to free water.
"I would say that's the key problem in the slums. They want free water."
Ironically, many of the residents get no water at all or are overcharged by a small group of illegal vendors who profit especially in the dry season.
There are several ways a water connection is considered unlawful. A vendor can sabotage a pipeline and connect his own plastic piping. That means he doesn't have a water meter and thus does not pay for the water he sells. He also wastes water by puncturing holes into the pipe system.
"What's more," says Mr Odaba, "the plastic piping is prone to contamination."
Small plastic pipes
"The Nairobi water company has specifications on materials that should be used. If people use small plastic pipes, they are vulnerable to breakage and therefore contamination."
If a vendor is hooked onto the company's lines but does not have a meter, he does not pay for the water he uses because it is impossible to determine how much has been used.
Mr Odaba says some vendors steal meters from legal distributors so that when a company employee goes by to inspect, they have something to show. And to prevent tampering with the meters at their tank, the company has sealed them in a concrete box and locked it up.
Last year, the Kenya Water for Health Organisation encouraged the Darajani Women Group, a community-based organisation in Kibera, to begin a water selling co-operative society.
Mr Kimani says some vendors have devised ways to shut down water mains in the slum, creating artificial shortages. Then, when there's no water available elsewhere, they drive up prices from the usual Sh2 per 20-litre jerrycan to upwards of Sh5 or Sh10.
Drive them out
But residents of Kibera often can't boycott the illegal vendors or drive them out of business.
"When there is a lot of water, their prices often come down to Sh1, so we buy from them," said Ms Philis Nzilani, a vegetable vendor who also heads the Darajani Women Group.
And when there is a water shortage, she adds, they have no choice but to buy from those who have water to sell.
The only uninterrupted water supply comes from a borehole at a mosque on Kibera's outskirts.
According to Mr Kimani, the Nairobi water firm's workers comb the slums for illegal connections aiming to get rid of them, but there seems to be a glitch in the process.
"We disconnect whatever illegal lines we discover, but unfortunately, they are returned at night," Mr Kimani said. "It's a cat and mouse business. We disconnect and they reconnect." There are also complaints from legal water vendors that their lines are often sabotaged and that illegal vendors continue to sell water.
Mr Kimani says that confronting the vendors is a dangerous task: "Once you try to threaten them, they resist, and if they resist, there will be war."
Ms Nzilani says she doesn't criticise the vendors for fear that her house will be burned down.
Vendors ruthless
But one water vendor, who concurs that the illegal vendors can be ruthless, says this is not the heart of the conflict.
The illegal connections are yet to be eradicated because the water company inspectors are usually bribed out of taking any punitive action, says Mr Daniel Mutisya.
Mr Odaba echoes Mr Mutisya's sentiments, explaining how when water distribution was a responsibility of the Nairobi council, the employees were known for soliciting bribes.
He said that many of those employees stayed on with the water company when it became independent from the city council and are just perpetuating old habits.
Weed out bribery
In an attempt to weed out bribery, a group of vendors came together in 2003 to form Maji Bora Kibera (MBK), the association that Mr Mutisya chairs.
MBK stabilised the price of water at Sh2 per jerrycan and tries to make sure that each one of its 500 members resist bribing the water company inspectors.
The members also adhere to an agreed code of conduct, including paying their bills on time and officially registering with the water company, among other tenets. The rules and regulations are marked clearly on MBK's blue and yellow water tanks around Kibera.
Mr Kimani would not say whether his employees take bribes or not, but encourages those who witness bribery cases to report the culprits immediately.
MBK has met with the water company three times since its inception. Together, they have tried to convince illegal vendors to turn over a new leaf - even if that means investing Sh2,400 to buy a water meter.
Mr Mutisya says it is more cost-effective to be a legal vendor.
"The NWC comes week after week and the vendors give them Sh1,000 here, Sh1,000 there. The illegal vendors end up losing more than I would by paying my bills," he says.
According to him, a workshop bringing together all the players would serve as a forum to voice these concerns.
Ms Nzilani agrees.
"The illegal vendors are very difficult to confront. We need a forum to say someone else is selling water illegally without revealing our identity."
According to Mr Kimani, the workshop, which was originally slated for the third week of January is now being planned and "will be held sometime this month." Neither Mr Odaba, Mr Mutisya nor Ms Nzilani have heard of any plans to organise the workshop when asked about the matter last week.
Until one is organised and methods to resolve the conflict are agreed on and implemented, the legal vendors in MBK or Darajani Women Group and the residents of Kibera must continue battling with constant water shortages - whether caused by vandals or the water company.
"Whether the tap is legal or illegal," Ms Nzilani says, "we still need water."
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