page_title: Water supply and sanitation in Nairobi
section_title: Water kiosks in slums
hierarchical_section_title: Water supply and sanitation in Nairobi / History / Water kiosks in slums
caption_attribution_description: English: Kibera Slum in Nairobi Deutsch: Der Slum Kibera in Nairobi Polski: Kiberia - dzielnica slumsów w Nairobi
context_page_description: Water supply and sanitation in Nairobi is characterised by achievements and challenges. Among the achievements is the expansion of infrastructure to keep pace with population growth, in particular through the construction of the Thika Dam and associated water treatment plant and pipelines during the 1990s; the transformation of the municipal water department into an autonomous utility in 2003; and the more recent reduction of water losses – technically called non-revenue water – from 50 to 40%.
  Challenges include poor quality and intermittent water supply, the loss of storage capacity in reservoirs behind dams through siltation accelerated by erosion in the Aberdare Range, lack of access to adequate sanitation in slums where half the population of the city lives, blockages of sewers resulting in overflows, and unused capacity in the city's largest wastewater treatment plant in Dandora. Another problem is political infighting and corruption, leading to the firing of the entire Board of the Nairobi Water Company in 2009.
context_section_description: A particular challenge in Nairobi has been and still is how to provide sufficient and affordable water to half its population living in slums. Since the 1970s slum residents with piped water connections built water kiosks where they resell water to other residents in buckets. The number of water kiosks in slums increased from about 150 in 1978 to nearly 1,500 in 1994. The municipal water department recommended a resale price, but could not enforce it so that the poorest end up paying much more than those fortunate enough to have a tap in their house.
caption: The Kibera slum in Nairobi is supplied with drinking water through kiosks.
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