Ideas & Debate

Kenya’s sanitation challenge requires urgent attention

MARY

Mary Ekadeli during the World Toilet Day on Sunday in Loima sub-county, Turkana. PHOTO | PETER WARUTUMO | NMG

Kenya is one of the countries that did not achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for increasing access to water and sanitation.

Only 30 per cent of Kenyans have access to improved sanitation, that is, the use of sanitation facilities that hygienically separate excreta from human contact.

This means that about 30 million Kenyans are still using unsafe sanitation methods such rudimentary types of latrines, and almost six million are defecating in the open.

Although this figure is higher if shared facilities are included, it is the rate of increase in access to improved sanitation that is worrying. Access to improved sanitation in Kenya increased by only five per cent between 1990 and 2015.

The socio-economic, health and environmental impacts of poor sanitation are too huge to be ignored. A study on the economic impact of poor sanitation conducted in 2012 by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program shows that Kenya loses Sh27 billion ($260 million equivalent) per year due to poor sanitation.

Current estimates indicate that these losses have increased as the rate of increase in improved sanitation is not commensurate with the rate of population growth.

Open defecation alone contributed 27 per cent of these losses. This figure may be higher if indirect impacts on health, environment, travel and tourism were included.

Studies, including the Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Poverty Diagnostics undertaken by the World Bank for 17 countries globally have linked poor sanitation and, particularly open defecation to stunting in children.

Stunting affects children’s health and it also has long-term effects on cognitive development, educational achievement and economic productivity as well as maternal reproductive health outcomes. As of 2014, one in four children is shorter for their age.

Poor sanitation remains a major cause of waterborne diseases such as cholera. In 2016, 30 out of 47 counties experienced cholera outbreaks that resulted in several deaths.

By October, 18 counties had reported cholera cases, with 3,244 cases and 60 deaths reported, out of which nearly half (27) were from Nairobi County alone.

Access to improved sanitation is a major challenge both in urban and rural areas. In the rural areas, people continue to defecate in the open (15 per cent against three per cent in urban areas), primarily due to the availability of open land, but also because it is considered culturally appropriate in some regions.

READ: Address poor sanitation to improve economic prospects, World Bank says

The northern counties specifically continue to present very high rates of open defecation, which is also linked to high poverty levels.

As the population grows, development takes place and resources become scarcer, the impacts of unsafe disposal of human waste are beginning to bite.

This is particularly so for communities that depend on unprotected surface water sources like water pans or shallow groundwater sources.

Since replenishment of these sources happens when it rains, open defecation results in direct contamination of the water sources with faecal waste.

The challenge is even more daunting in urban areas. Why? Urban growth outstrips the provision of basic services, sanitation included.

Second, urban planning hardly precedes settlement, making it much harder for utilities to provide water and sanitation services. Third, having a toilet, either connected or not connected to a piped wastewater system is only one part of faecal waste management.

Other issues at play are how safely the waste is contained, emptied, transported, treated and disposed of. This is the new focus of the Sustainable Development Goals, which have shifted from only addressing access to sanitation facilities to considering safe waste management along the entire sanitation service chain, from waste generation to disposal or re-use.

Sanitation in the urban areas is further compounded by the inter-linkages with other services including stormwater drainage, solid waste and water supply.

Wajir town, for instance, has a high groundwater table and shallow water wells are the main source of water for domestic and livestock use. This means that construction of simple pit latrines is not feasible.

Instead, about 68 per cent of the 100,000 residents use bucket latrines, a system introduced during the colonial times to protect the groundwater.

During the rainy seasons, faecal waste overflow from buckets is swept away by the stormwater, resulting in contamination of the shallow wells. Consequently, Wajir town suffers from frequent outbreaks of waterborne diseases, especially cholera and diarrhoea.

Kenya hopes to reach universal sanitation coverage by 2030 and to end open defecation by 2020. But, achieving universal improved sanitation coverage requires a paradigm shift in policies, technologies and mindsets.

It is estimated that if the current trend of sanitation coverage is maintained, it would take Kenya another 200 years to achieve universal sanitation coverage.

Finally, universal sanitation cannot be achieved without strong stakeholder engagement and community consultations. This will ensure that the right solutions are being proposed and collectively implemented to assure sustainability.

Pascaline Ndungu is Water & Sanitation Specialist, World Bank.