Kibera is the largest slum in Kenya with an average population of about 250k people. Most of this population live below a dollar a day, so access to clean water and sanitation facilities has been a challenge. However, some efforts have been made by the governments and a lot of NGOs to improve on this and raise the living standards of this community.

Over the years, projects have been run in the various wards in Kibera, most of them targeting to improve access to water, and to have dignified sanitation facilities. From building ablution blocks to providing free water tanks to the communities to run water points, the expected result would be that the water challenge would be solved.

Walking down various parts of Kibera, you will find huge water tanks, donated by well-wishing NGOs, and government officials, but these tanks are dry without water, therefore, not serving the community as intended. Some of the community groups that own such tanks reveal that they have not received water for as long as 3 years. This is clearly unsustainable and a waste to funds used for such initiatives.

So, we ask the question, WHERE IS THE WATER?

Over the past few months, Kenya was pounded by heavy downpour especially from the months of March through May. We received at least 20% more rainfall than what was anticipated. With this, it was expected that the supply of water would be much improved. But this has not been the case for the urban poor in Kibera.

CASE STUDY:

Running Our Mobi-Water Pilot in Kibera has been eye opening and has enabled us to receive data that was previously not available. Monitoring water at the community level has allowed us to clearly see the gap in the water needs of the communities Vs actual water distribution from the Utilities.

Discussed in our analysis is data from three water points in Kibera, in three different locations. To view this data, please head over to our  website http://www.techwatersolutions.com/shedding-light-on-water-distribution-i...