Discussion Paper No. 133 of 2012 on The Water Poverty Index: A Situational Analysis of Selected Counties in Kenya.

Abstract

Kenya is a water scarce country, and this impacts on the social and economic development goals. This study seeks to develop a Water Poverty Index to assess water resources at the county level. The Water Poverty Index is an inter-disciplinary tool that links physical availability of water with socio-economic factors that impact on access. The index was computed for a sample of four counties, namely Kiambu, Murang’a, Nairobi and Nyandarua. The findings of the study show that water availability does not necessarily translate into high levels of access at the county level. The two counties that score high on the water availability component score the lowest on access to water and sanitation. Nairobi county has the highest scores in terms of access due to external resources from Nyandarua and Murang’a. Thus, more needs to be done in these counties to bridge the gap between water resource availability and access to water and sanitation. In addition, all the counties in the study need to improve on access to water and sanitation to reach the targets of the National Water Services Strategy. The study provides several policy recommendations to improve the water poverty situation in the counties. Resource-rich counties such as Nyandarua and Murang’a, can trade in water resources with counties such as Nairobi to generate money for the development and conservation of their own water resources.