AfDB-funded water project eases sanitation woes in Kenol

Through the Kenya Towns Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Programme (KTSWSSP), several towns are benefiting from expanded water and sewerage services, in a move aimed at improving public health and environmental outcomes.

As towns expand into peri-urban zones, the number of residents, businesses and institutions has grown rapidly, driving up demand for sanitation services.

In some areas, residents have relied on pit latrines and septic systems that fill up quickly and are costly to empty.

Joel, a Kenol resident, said the toilets used to fill up fast, forcing residents to spend heavily on exercise services to remove waste.

He said the cost of hiring an exhauster to clear waste has dropped significantly since the sewer line was connected in the area.

Residents say that before the sewerage systems were connected, rainfall would cause wastewater to overflow into residential areas, posing a risk to public health and the environment.

Peter Wahome, a headteacher in Kimomori, said the area experiences a rise in the water table during heavy rains, causing waste to resurface.

He said connecting local facilities to the sewer line is expected to resolve the problem, adding that the area is now in the process of linking up to the sewer network.

Julius Karanja, a Kenol resident, described the scale of the previous cost burden. "After three months you needed to take out the waste. And taking out that waste, we used to pay 8,000, 9,000, sometimes 10,000. When it rains, this thing comes up because the water doesn't go down. And you can imagine if it is overflowing in a compound, a home compound, and the kind of waste that comes up, it is a health hazard," he said.

Jane Mukuha, a resident of Makuyu, said water shortages in the semi-arid area used to be severe but have eased since the arrival of Muswasco, the local water service provider. She said residents now receive water supply two days a week, which, with adequate storage, can last a household for a week or longer.

Through the water programme, more than 2,500 water connections and over 400 sewer connections have been made in beneficiary areas, including Kenol.

John Macharia, a senior official at Muswasco, said sanitation had previously been a neglected component of infrastructure development in the area. "But with the project under the Makutano, we were able to do that sewerage for Kenol, and most of the residents currently, they are really connected to it, and we are benefiting from it in terms of sanitation," he said.

The programme is being implemented by the Athi Water Works Development Agency (AWWDA), with funding from the African Development Bank.

Officials say expanding water and sewerage infrastructure is essential to helping towns cope with rising populations and urban growth.