Water.org is working in the urban city of Kisumu and rural Eastern Province, offering both grant and WaterCredit programs.
More than 60% of residents in Kisumu live in peri-urban settlements that ring the city. Although there are some household and community taps in the settlements (40% of residents have access to piped water), many people collect contaminated water from shallow wells or surface sources. Pit latrines are common, however, the water table is high and some latrines overflow often when it rains. There are very few open areas to dump waste from full latrines. In the past few years there have been several cholera outbreaks in urban Kisumu.
The rural communities Water.org works with in Eastern Province are semi-arid, with some rainfall each year, but a defined and long rainy season and occasional droughts. Many people (mostly women) in these communities travel from 3-4 hours per day to collect water from shallow wells and 80% of households do not have latrines. There is some conflict in the region over water between groups that practice agricultural and pastoralists.
The Water & Sanitation Crisis
The water crisis in Kenya is disrupting social and economic activities throughout the country. Unfortunately, the current wave of droughts and water shortages in Kenya and the rest of East Africa is only expected to continue.
The water crisis is due not only to the wave of droughts, but also to poor management of the water supply, under-investment, unfair allocation of water, rampant deforestation, pollution of water supplies by untreated sewage, and a huge population explosion (thirty-fold increase since 1900).
Kenya is limited by an annual renewable fresh water supply of only 647 cubic meters per capita, and is classified as a water scarce country. Only 57 percent of the rural population has access to an improved drinking water source, and the time-intensive pursuit of water collection often prevents women from taking up income generating activities, or in the case of girls, prevents them from attending school.
