Effects of Delegated Water Provisioning on Quality of Drinking Water in Low Income Areas of Kisumu County, Kenya

Abstract

Only 62% of the African population have access to improved water supply. In Kenya 14% of the households in the urban areas, are privately connected to improved water supply systems. However, intermittent water supply has been reported to be a constant constraint in most low income areas in Kenya, making the residents of these areas to seek for alternative water sources such as water cart vendors, with exorbitant water prices and questionable water quality. Intermittent water supply increases the risk of water contamination through breaks and leaks leading to life threatening waterborne diseases. Delegated Management Model was adopted by water utilities in developing countries to address water access and quality issues in low income areas in developing countries. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of DMM on the quality of drinking water in low-income areas of Kisumu County in Kenya. A descriptive cross-sectional research design was adopted. A total of 80 water samples were collected with 56 collected at the water kiosks while 24 were collected from the households. A two-sample t-test was used to determine if the differences in quality of the drinking water from the two settlements was significant at 95% confidence interval and p value set at .05. The study findings at the point of supply (water kiosks), indicated that, only the PH was within the WHO recommended standards. Turbidity, residual chlorine, total coliforms and Faecal Coliforms were all above the WHO recommended levels, and were statistically significant at p 1), total Coliforms and faecal Coliforms were all above the WHO standards. Both turbidity, total and faecal coliforms recorded significant decrease at p <0.05 though the parameters were still not within the WHO recommended levels. Though the DMM model of water supply in Nyalenda and Manyatta has improved access to water in the two informal settlement areas, findings show alterations in water quality parameters both at the water kiosks and at the household level which indicates contamination in the water supply. The study therefore recommends closer water quality monitoring at the Supply points (water kiosks) and at the households to identify and prevent sources of contamination. Further, health education strategies should be put in place to enhance proper water handling and storage among the residents. Further research should be done to identify the source of contamination. Keywords: Water, Drinking water , Water quality, Water Provisioning, low income areas DOI : 10.7176/JHMN/60-12 Publication date :March 31 st 2019