Abstract
Based on a five-town case-study cohort in Kenya, a conceptual framework has been developed to enable the formulation of holistic and effective strategies that encompass the national aspirations and regional to global sustainability agendas, and which can be used to monitor progress in achieving set objectives. The approach is flexible, scalable and transferrable, so that it can be applied in different contexts and using different indicators, based upon the same construct. Insufficient technical knowledge of urban aquifers and their interplay with the wider social-ecological system constrains the development of holistic, effective and robust management systems to ensure their sustainability for intended uses. The objective was to consider governance and management solutions that could promote water security for urban towns in Kenya through the sustainable use of groundwater in the context of its complex hydrogeology, water access disparities, competing uses and future risks. The in force national and county water policies, strategies, and plans for the case study areas were critically reviewed. The status of aquifer knowledge, water access disparities, competing uses, and risks was evaluated from critical literature reviews and data compilation, fieldwork, and analysis of indicator datasets from the Kenya 2009 census. Key aquifers need urgent characterisation to reverse the current situation whereby development proceeds with insufficient aquifer knowledge. Private sector and public participation in management should be enhanced through decentralised management approaches. Water infrastructure and technologies should be fit-for-purpose in application and scale, and the pro-poor focus should be underpinned by appropriately focused management regimes.
Highlights
The urban population of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is growing at a faster rate than any other region of the world
Five towns in Kenya in which the author has had substantial field experience have been selected as a multitown cohort of case studies for this report: Kisumu City and the town of Nakuru are in the sub-humid zones; Lodwar and Wajir towns are in the arid zones; and, the town of Msambweni is in the semi-arid zone
Wajir and Lodwar areas are within essentially sedimentary settings associated in part with marine (Msambweni and Wajir) and lacustrine (Lodwar) systems, while Kisumu and Nakuru are in rift settings that are partly associated with lacustrine systems
Summary
The urban population of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is growing at a faster rate than any other region of the world. Water supply sources for the town dwellers include boreholes, shallow wells, unprotected and protected water springs, treated piped water (from lakes, rivers and/or springs), and water vendors (who sell water from all sources at different prices); in some cases, one source may dominate, while in others a hybrid variety of sources is accessed, which tend to have widely variable quality, from human-potable and Hydrogeol J (2019) 27:1031–1050 livestock-potable to saline and non-potable. Water service providers and water and sanitation infrastructure are struggling to keep pace within the rapidly growing urbanisation context (Dominguez Torres 2012; Hove et al 2013; Wright et al 2013) so that insufficient water supply is becoming the norm (Hove et al 2013), forcing more urban dwellers to turn to wells and boreholes, among other water supply sources, which may offer unsafe drinking water due to lack of maintenance or protection (Dominguez Torres 2012). It is estimated that 80% of all communicable diseases are directly or indirectly linked to insufficient access to water and sanitation facilities and hygiene practices (Ministry of State for Planning 2007), so that the health burden can be significantly reduced and the quality of life can be significantly improved when there is safe, affordable, accessible and adequate quantity of potable water supplies
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