options for water supply and sanitation

There are many options for water supply and sanitation in Africa discussed in the literature surrounding this thematic area. One of the options, advocated by Drangert et al. (2002) involves the management of both water sources and sanitation facilities and this paper suggest that when urban expansion occurs and cities begin to expand rapidly, management should go small. The paper argues that demography plays a crucial role and is a vital factor in the management of water and through this a model is developed to generate water management options relating to population growth. During times of rapid population growth social cohesion is low and public management is often poor, so therefore residents often take own-key actions to solve the problems and these can be defined as initiatives that are managed and controlled by local communities or individuals with local knowledge. Then as the population growth slows which will inevitably happen, social cohesion and public management will improve, therefore enriched infrastructure for water sources and sanitation can then be put in place.

I believe that the option in this paper, which is the use of a mixture of ‘own key’ and ‘turn key’ arrangements is a viable option. ‘Own key’ arrangements at the local level should be used during times of rapid population growth as local knowledge enable and help  to provide sanitation and water for the population as it is needed urgently and this is the quickest way to do this and during times of slow growth ‘turn-key’ arrangements should be used as external management can provide infrastructure when there is less demand for urgent sanitation and water sources. However, this will only occur if there is a good relationship between the local government or city council and the local communities. 

Case Study of a Kenyan Slum – Quality of water they use

As mentioned when introducing the thematic area, rapid urbanisation has resulted in the majority of urban the residents in Sub-Saharan Africa having to reside in slums which are characterised by a lack of basic services such as water and sewage. Drawing on a paper by Wambui Kimani- Murage and Ngindu (2007) I will be exploring the quality of the water that the population residing in the Kenyan slum of Langas in the Eldoret municipality use and the effect that over crowding has on the quality of water.

The proportion of the urban population of Kenya nearly doubled from 16% in 1980 to 31% in 1998 and this rapid urbanisation has resulted in an increased proportion of the population living in slum or shanty towns, in absolute poverty in much of the urban areas (World Bank, 1999/2000). As slums have an illegal status as they are mostly informal settlements they therefore do not receive government services such as water or drainage and sewage systems which has a detrimental affect on the health of the population residing there. For example, in Kenya the diarrheal diseases are among the major illnesses affecting the slum residents. The study highlights the fact that some affordable on site sanitation and underground water is used, but due to the high concentration of people, it does not allow for adequate distance between wells using the underground water and the pit latrines which are the used onsite sanitation. This is a major issue facing a high proportion of the population as the insufficient distance allows for microorganisms to migrate from the faecal matter in the pits to the water source, causing pollution of the drinking water.

The overriding conclusion from this study is that most of the sources of domestic water within the slum are contaminated with faecal matter and the main issue was the closeness of the pit latrine and the wells. Therefore, this indicates the importance of distance between the sanitation facility and the water source, as in order to prevent or lower contamination, they should be a sufficient distance apart. Consequently, this is another issue to take into consideration when trying to determine the cause of illnesses and diseases in urban areas. Also similar to that of the study by Tumwine et al (2002), this paper acknowledged the importance of education and behaviour change in terms of sanitation in reducing water-borne diseases.

Diarrhoea prevalence in East Africa

As mentioned in the previous post ill health and diseases associated with inadequate water supply and sanitation facilities is a momentous concern in Africa and in the rest of the developing world. These illnesses and diseases include that of diarrhoea, which is a fundamental environmental health issue. Drawing from Tumwine et al (2002) I will be exploring the links concerning the prevalence of diarrhoea and the nature of water supplies and sanitation facilities in three countries in East Africa; Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

The literature argues that the type of water source or the nature of the water supplies available to the population in that area affects the prevalence of diarrhoea.

 

 

 

(Tumwine et al 2002)

 

The Graph above displays the household prevalence of diarrhoea by type of water source and as illustrated, the water source resulting in the least prevalence is that of a vendor or kiosk. The water source with the highest prevalence is that of reservoirs or ponds meaning that households that rely on surface water as their primary source of water are more likely to suffer from diarrhoea and it is reported that in these circumstances, there was at least one case of diarrhoea in the preceding week after the survey was collected.

 

The form of water source isn’t the only factor that can affect the prevalence of illnesses such as diarrhoea as the type of sanitation facility is also related with diarrhoea morbidity. The results from this study indicate that un-piped households with no sanitation had a prevalence rate of 66%, whereas those with an access to a pit or a ventilated improved privy (VIP) latrine had a much lower prevalence rate of about 20%.

 

Therefore this study exemplifies the importance of the type of water source and the available sanitation facilities in the area, on the prevalence of diarrhoea. Using surface water seems to be the biggest determining factor in causing the illness and this has also been found in other studies such as Manun’ebo et al (1994) whose findings were consistent with those from Tumwine et al (2002).

The situation of access to clean water and sanitation in Africa is extremely challenging. Urban areas are facing a host of challenges due to their rapid growth in recent years (The Water Project). The accelerated growth of urbanisation and therefore the monumental increase in people residing in cities has amplified the demand for accessible water and sanitation services. In much of the literature surrounding this topic it has been argued that the provision of basic services such as access to clean water and sanitation has not kept pace with this urban growth and therefore this has caused problems for those living in the urban areas. One of the main amenities that has been unable to keep pace with the rate of urbanisation, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa is that of the development of wastewater management systems. This has led to the pollution of sources of natural water, which those residing in area, rely on, causing adverse effects in terms of health. Drinking the polluted water can lead to water-related, diarrhoeal diseases, which is a problem not only in Africa but all over the world with 1 billion cases of water-related, diarrhoeal diseases each year, involving 3 to 4 million deaths in which most are children each year (WHO 2000).  Clearly this is an issue which needs to be addressed and over the next few weeks I hope to explore the different strategies and systems that are being developed to comeback the pollution of these water bodies in Africa.