Using GPS and recall to understand water collection in Kenyan informal settlements

Abstract

This paper uses interviews and Global Positioning System (GPS) loggers to measure the time taken to collect water in two large informal settlements in Kenyan cities. Collection times were measured, and collection paths mapped, in two low-income urban settlements, comparing water access conditions in Nyalenda in Kisumu (where the utility has introduced a new piped water system) with Kibera in Nairobi (where no such improvement has been made). The use of GPS tracking provides a better understanding of time spent collecting water compared to interview data, but the two methods combined provide insights that neither could have suggested alone.