page_title: Water supply and sanitation in Kenya
section_title: Colonial period
hierarchical_section_title: Water supply and sanitation in Kenya / History and recent developments / Colonial period
caption_attribution_description: Kenya map from CIA World Factbook, converted from original GIF format (July 2011 version showing South Sudan)
context_page_description: Water supply and sanitation in Kenya is characterised by low levels of access to water and sanitation, in particular in urban slums and in rural areas, as well as poor service quality in the form of intermittent water supply. Seasonal and regional water scarcity exacerbates the difficulty to improve water supply.
  The Kenyan water sector underwent far-reaching reforms through the Water Act No. 8 of 2002. Previously service provision had been the responsibility of a single National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation as well as of a few local utilities established since 1996. After the passage of the act service provision was gradually decentralised to 91 local Water Service Providers. These were linked to 8 regional Water Services Boards in charge of asset management through Service Provision Agreements with the WSPs. The Act also created a national regulatory board that carries out performance benchmarking and is in charge of approving SPAs and tariff adjustments. With the Water Bill, 2014, the functions of the 8 WSBs were transferred to 47 Water Works Development Boards in each county of Kenya.
context_section_description: Between 1920 and independence in 1963 the first attempts were made at regulating water supply in the colony and protectorate of Kenya, while responsibility was shared by many institutions. In the 1950s and early 60s, responsibility for the administration of water supply was split between three institutions: the Ministry of Works operating in urban centres with centralised water service provision; Local Authorities that were deemed capable of managing water supply; and the Water Development Department, which was responsible for developing new water supplies for urban and rural centres. Bulk water to Mombasa was provided by the Mombasa Pipeline Work, while day-to-day operations of water pipelines were carried out by the water department. There was no single framework for the administration and management of water. In 1952 the Water Act Cap 372 was enacted, which remained the legal basis for the water sector until 2002.
  In the sanitation subsector there was no functioning institutional framework either. Officially, the 1921 Public Health Ordinance gave the Ministry of Health the role of administering sanitation, but it was rarely enforced. The local population, moreover, was reluctant to adopt sanitary measures imposed by the colonial government. Between 1929 and 1939 intense public health education campaigns were carried out which led to the diffusion of pit latrines.
  By 1954 different types of sanitation were in use in different parts of Kenya: pit latrines were in use in most native reserves, bucket type latrines prevailed in towns while waterborne sanitation was used in the European quarters of major towns. During the Mau Mau uprising Africans were concentrated in detention camps and local markets were kept closed out of fear of rebellion. This led to the neglect of adequate sanitation and in the proliferation of communal latrines.
caption: A map of Kenya.
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