Water vending business must be strictly regulated

The ongoing water rationing in Nairobi and other parts of the country has exposed Kenyans to ruthless water vendors who are out to make a killing from desperate households and businesses. This not only adds extra costs to already tight household budgets, but also exposes users to dangers of consuming contaminated water. Water is a public good and thus should not be left to the forces of demand and supply in a liberal market. Whereas it is appreciated that the vendors are filling a supply gap, their operations should not run unsupervised. It is reported that water vendors illegally extract water from the piped system for resale, which increases water losses, denying the water service provider the revenue required for commercial viability and sustainability of services.

Water vendor malpractices are as a result of absent regulator and the principle-agent problem as well as informalities. Firstly, the absenteeism of the regulator manifests in failure by various institutions of authority to regulate, supervise and develop the vending business entities. This increases informalities in water vending business, making it difficult to account for the operations and character of vendors.

The water kiosks hold more information and logistical advantage than the water company, for instance on illegal connections and effectiveness of water supply schedules. The water company trusts that the water kiosks are good partners in enhancing water supply. The top management of the water companies also trust the officials manning the systems, expecting them to be the caretakers and work for the public good.

However, the water kiosk manager and the allied vendors often collude with the water company officials on the ground to create artificial water shortage for mutual benefit. Artificial shortage raises demand for private water supply, the vendors. The vendors have designated themselves various zones to eliminate competition and to ensure demand always overweighs the supply.

This gives vendors a bargaining edge to spike the prices through the roof. They later or in advance give kickbacks to the officials. Similar cases apply to other entities like those selling water from boreholes and tankers, literary all vendors. The situation is easily justified to the residents when official water rationing is announced. The residents are blindly duped into accepting more severe water scarcity, which is way outside the official rationing.

The vendors literary hold residents at ransom. There is welfare loss when cartels take control of a market. Artificial shortages expose residents not only to high costs and poor quality of water but consumers also have to bear waiting, search and psychological costs. Nevertheless, water vending increases water coverage, creates jobs and is a source of income. There is need to build capacity among vendors on water safety and hygiene.

Households also require training on household technologies of checking quality of water and also making water safe for domestic use.

The most important measure, however, is the regulation and supervision of the water vending business.
On the quality of water, vendors should have a certificate of operation from the public health officer, after participating in water safety and hygiene training.