Pro-poor policy intervention in urban water management in Kenya: Towards universal access to affordable and safe water coverage

Water infrastructure in most parts of the world is characterised by different forms of technologies that shape service provision leading to inclusion of 'some' and exclusion of 'others' failing to meet the needs of the world's poorest urban residents by denying them their most basic rights (Bell 2015). Besides financial inadequacy of local utilities to extend service network, factors such as unplanned, illegal status of settlements, rapid population growth and the difficulty of obtaining finance to build or extend infrastructure to less profitable areas are cited as reasons for low coverage of safe water provisions for poor living in urban areas (Keener et al. 2010). Thus pro-poor policy interventions become mandatory in order to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of achieving universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water by 2030, It is estimated that 60% of residents in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, live in informal settlements (ISs) and low-income settlements (LISs) who do not have adequate access to affordable safe drinking water (Gerlach 2008). According to the National Water Services Strategy (2007-2015), only 20% of the populations in LISs have access to safe water with less than 5% having piped water connections at home. The Government declared access to "clean and safe water in adequate quantities" as a constitutional right and has made a mandatory condition for 'implementation of pro-poor strategies through promoting low cost technologies such as water kiosks and yard taps to ensure access to safe water at regulated prices' for granting licenses to water providers. Under this framework, Kenya introduced a new form of card operated water vending machine, popularly known as water ATMs first time in the Mathare slums of Nairobi in 2015 through a public private partnership programme. This study attempts to analyses the impact of this propoor policy intervention aimed at providing safe and affordable water along with cost recouping.