page_title: Water supply and sanitation in Kenya
hierarchical_section_title: Water supply and sanitation in Kenya
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: 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 (WSPs). These were linked to 8 regional Water Services Boards (WSBs) in charge of asset management through Service Provision Agreements (SPAs) 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.
  The Ministry of Water and Irrigation remains in charge of policies for water supply, while the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation is in charge of policies for sanitation.
  Although urban water tariffs are high by regional standards (60 KSh or US$0.60 per m3 on average in 2014), these tariffs only allow the recovery of operating costs, but not the recovery of capital costs. Full cost recovery is not achieved due to various reasons, including a high level of non-revenue water (average of 42%). Based on the unit cost of production, the nationwide losses due to non-revenue water in 2014 were estimated at 5.2 billion KSh, equivalent to US$52 million. Another reason is the need to tap distant water sources at a high cost in some locations. For example, Mombasa is supplied from a source located 220 km from the city. Although 16% of Kenyans in urban areas have access to sewerage, there is no sewerage levy in Kenya, making this expensive service essentially free of charge.
caption: The flag of Kenya