Kenya: More Water Cannot Really Help Nairobi

21 August 2012
opinion

Nairobi ranks high on the league table of unlivable and inequitable cities globally. Inequitable because only 22% of inhabitants of the city's informal settlements, home to over 60% of Nairobi's residents, have access to piped water. Unlivable because today running taps and showers are luxuries of a glorious, nostalgic past. And lets face it, Nairobi is insanitary; only 40% of Nairobi residents with access to the city's water have access to water-water borne sewerage.

The water shortage in Nairobi is acute and chronic. The prognosis is dire; it could get worse. Here is why: inexorable demand owing rapid urban growth; declining water supplies form source areas; climate variability and change; dilapidated distribution infrastructure; and, stupefying ineptitude of the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company (NWSC).

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