## 4 Discussion and Conclusions  
Fostering resilience to drought emergencies is a complex task, and the effort to improve sustainable water services describes just one facet of a broader movement to build capacity and reduce vulnerability in Kenya's northern counties. However, sustainable water services have a disproportionate impact on the severity of drought disasters, as the inability to access safe or improved water services has ramifications that are felt rapidly and touch all other aspects of community life in rural regions [10]. While traditional  
Figure 4: (**A**) Average marginal effect of strategic borehole status on hours of use for each county. (**B**) Average marginal effect of strategic borehole status on hours of use for the 2017 and 2018 drought seasons. drought strategies have focused on food supplies and getting humanitarian aid to the places where it is needed in a timely manner, recent strategies have shifted their focus to preventing drought emergencies by fostering resilience, building capacity, and developing early warning and rapid response systems to avoid the worst effects of drought emergencies: inter-communal conflict over scarce resources, the destruction of community assets, and the loss of human lives [7]. This investigation builds on previous studies that have shown how specialized institutions equipped with continuous monitoring technology can significantly improve the sustainability of water services in developing communities [18; 26; 32]. For example, [PERSON] et al. [26] conducted an experiment where functionality increased significantly (91%) while time to repair decreased (21 days) using sensor-informed maintenance compared to circuit-rider maintenance (73% functionality and 57 days to repair) or nominal maintenance methods (68% functionality and 152 days to repair). Similarly, [PERSON] et al. [32] used handpump sensors and a sensor-informed maintenance model to raise pump functionality to 98%, with 89% of repairs being completed within five days. However, both studies are quick to point out that the data from sensors alone are not sufficient to improve the operation and maintenance of water systems. Researchers at the University of Oxford have contributed significantly to the effort to articulate how smart monitoring must be combined with professional maintenance services, sustainable finance, and coordination to provide sustainable water services [33]. [PERSON] et al. extend this analysis further in their articulation of the need for pluralist institutions that \"facilitate risk management through improved information flows, sustainable finance and reliable maintenance\" [23] (p. 272). These pluralist institutions ideally facilitate collaboration between the market, bureaucratic, and community perspectives that must be represented in the effort to reconcile conflicting values and manage a common pool resource such as water [18]. While the FundiFix model and Kenya RAPID programs have been implemented as external interventions, the NDMA provides a compelling example of a pluralist, meso-level institution that is able to \"reduce operational and financial inefficiencies by pooling finances and operating at scale\" while channeling resources from the federal budget to the communities and contexts where and when they are needed [23] (p. 275). The NDMA's ability to support each county's waterpoint management is dependent on the drought conditions that catalyze resources. Whereas the drought in 2017 provided additional resources for fuel, maintenance, and water equipment, resulting in greater overall use of strategic boreholes, the lack of drought in 2018 resulted in diminished overall use of boreholes, particularly strategic boreholes. Based on interviews with field officers and an examination of repair records, one reason cited for decreased use of strategic boreholes in 2018 compared to 2017 is that strategic boreholes in 2018 were disproportionately affected by malfunctions and prolonged repairs.