Strategy_Waterbike

Kenyans with low income can in some cases walk by a clean water
source and to the next which is polluted, just because they do not
have the ability to pay. So all in all, water is a too expensive resource
for many living in Kenya.
There is a lot of organisations that try to work out solutions for
the water crisis in Kenya. One examples is United States Agency
for International Development, USAID 1 , which can also help
entrepreneurs and businesses secure financing to expand water
services to those in need. Through its Development Credit Authority,
USAID shares risk, or guarantees loans from commercial banks like
Kenya’s K-Rep Bank. For example, in 2012, USAID helped the Kisumu
Water and Sewerage Co. In Western Kenya obtain a $240,000 loan
from K-Rep Bank to fund water connections for 1,500 low-income
households in Nyamasaria. The USAID-backed effort was the largest
loan ever made by the bank to finance a water project.
USAID is also encouraging other banks in Kenya to lend to the water
sector. In October 2012, Kenya Commercial Bank, the largest bank
in East Africa, signed a new loan guarantee with USAID to promote
more private-sector projects to improve water access and quality,
and is currently reviewing potential loans that could total $5.5 million
over a 10-year activity.
Other charity organisations builds wells for the communities, or helps
bringing water in other ways. But most of them does not add any
additional value, and does often not build an ecosystem around it.
But it is of course good enough to just bring water, even though it
does not create any additional jobs in the communities. To mention
some you got ”The water project” 2 and ”Wells for schools”.
CAN WATER METERS EASE KENYA’S SUPPLY WOES? 3
It is estimated that by 2030 more than half of Africans will live in
urban areas, but the percentage of urban residents with household
water connections is actually falling. Urban utilities face aging
infrastructure, growing demand and the challenges of reaching
low-income populations, often in unplanned areas. The result is an
increasing reliance on uncertain and unsafe supplies.
Nakuru sits at the base of the Rift Valley and holds great agricultural
and tourism potential. However, more than 40 percent of its
population still lives below the poverty line, and economic pressures
increase with the growing population.
More than two-thirds of Nakuru’s residents—around 250,000
people—live in large-scale informal settlements, relying on vendors
to bring them 20-liter jerry cans of water for an average 6.3 Kenyan
shillings, or roughly 7 cents. This amount of water typically lasts a
person in the developing world two days—and has to cover drinking,
washing and cooking. By contrast, the average North American uses
400 litres of water a day. For an average household of five in Kenya,
the weekly water routine involves buying and carrying more than 17
cans of water; each of those cans weighs up to 20kg.
1. https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/frontlines/water-neglected-tropical-diseases/can-watermeters-ease-kenyas-supply
2. https://thewaterproject.org/
3. https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/frontlines/water-neglected-tropical-diseases/can-watermeters-ease-kenyas-supply)
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