Abstract
In 2000, the United Nations (UN) developed Millennium Development Goals (MDG) with one of its aim being to improve access of potable water supply by 2015 in developing countries. This study thus focused on Kenya’s Gilgil constituency which lies in both arid and semi-arid zones and experiences bimodal rains which are neither heavy nor reliable. With persistent shortages, water management and monitoring became essential and in current times the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is being incorporated due to its capability as an effective tool in water resources management. The study’s aim was to provide knowledge about accessible areas and gaps using cost surface analysis as well as identify other factors that influence settlement. The study utilized walk speeds as an impedance to determine cost surfaces followed by creation of service areas from water facilities using time as a measurement of access. The study established that surface friction may not have major influence on accessibility and service areas while logistic regression established that other factors strongly influence settlement apart from water availability. The study also reveals that 77% of the semi-permanent households in Gilgil have a hard time accessing water as they are outside the 30-minute walk time.
Highlights
We evaluated focal statistics values for land cover layer, slope and built-up area developed from the aerial image that were converted to raster and accorded varying importance using Visual Basic (VB) script
From the three service walk zones created, consideration was given to the maximum walk time that World Health Organization (WHO) recommended would be good for pedestrian to endure which was 30 minutes
Access to water should emphasize on accessing an improved source that is safe for drinking and as a result, this study only focused on water points obtained from Water Resource Management Authority (WRMA), a state corporation whose principal mandate is to work as a lead agency in management of water resources in the country
Summary
An estimated 768 million people are not able to access improved source of water either surface or groundwater [2]. According to World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 44% of the world’s population who are mainly from Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa leave their homes and walk for more than an hour to “non-networked” water supplies to fetch water for drinking and other domestic uses [6]. The rest of the population relies on surface water [8]
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