Abstract
Abstract Most residents of Kisumu, Kenya, use latrines constructed over basic pits or attached to more durable concrete vaults and septic tanks. Only one-third of fecal sludge generated in the city, however, is safely collected and treated. Programs for improving fecal sludge management among poor households include the development of formal manual emptying organizations that are recognized by local authorities, employ safety procedures, and transport fecal sludge to a treatment site. In this study, we compared the financial structures of these organizations with those of vacuum trucks that primarily serve wealthier households. We also employed an incentives-based strategy to promote the expansion of safe pit-emptying services in a low-income area and compared the performance of three managing groups to coordinate these services: (1) The Association of Wastewater Managers (The Association); (2) a formal manual emptying organization; and (3) a community-based water supplier interested in coordinating emptying services. Vacuum trucks were more cost-effective than the formal manual emptying organization, and The Association was most efficient in servicing poor households. The Association also demonstrated the ability to service low-income areas comprehensively by delegating a fraction of jobs (11%) to formal manual emptiers in locations not serviceable by VTOs, and overall showed the highest potential to achieve pro-poor service delivery at scale.
Highlights
Located in Western Kenya and bordering Lake Victoria, Kisumu is the country’s third-largest city with an estimated 419,000 inhabitants, of which approximately 60% live in low-income areas (County Government of Kisumu a; Furlong & Jooust )
Estimates indicate that only one-third of Kisumu’s collected fecal sludge is treated at the city’s sewage treatment sites, which are managed by Kisumu Water and Sanitation Company (KIWASCO); the remainder is directly discharged into the environment or buried (Furlong & Jooust )
Recognizing that the costs of formal manual emptying were higher than vacuum truck operators (VTOs) primarily due to transport, we provided an additional incentive payment of 2,000 KES (20 USD) per trip to the treatment site for pit-emptying jobs completed by formal manual emptiers to support the costs of transporting fecal sludge from the study zones to the KIWASCO treatment site
Summary
Located in Western Kenya and bordering Lake Victoria, Kisumu is the country’s third-largest city with an estimated 419,000 inhabitants, of which approximately 60% live in low-income areas (County Government of Kisumu a; Furlong & Jooust ). It is estimated that the remaining 5% practice open defecation. These underground containment structures are typically either emptied by vacuum truck operators (VTOs), who mostly serve wealthier households, or informal manual emptiers who remove fecal sludge by hand or buckets and bury it onsite or dispose of it in nearby waterways. Estimates indicate that only one-third of Kisumu’s collected fecal sludge is treated at the city’s sewage treatment sites, which are managed by Kisumu Water and Sanitation Company (KIWASCO); the remainder is directly discharged into the environment or buried (Furlong & Jooust ).
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