MAPPING AND CHARACTERISING WATER POINTS IN MBETI SOUTH LOCATION, MBEERE DISTRICT IEA Research Paper Series No. 21 April 2009 Published by: INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS 5th Floor, ACK Garden House 1st Ngong Avenue P.O. Box 53989 Nairobi- 00200 Tel: 254-20-2717402, 2721262 Fax: 254-20-2716231 Email: [email protected] Written by: Zacchaeus Kinuthia, David Warui and Francis Karanja of Centre for Training & Integrated Research in ASAL Development (CETRAD) P.O. Box 144 Nanyuki 10400 Tel: 062-31328; Fax: 062-31323 E-mail: [email protected] With the support of Heinrich Boll Foundation (HBF) Institute of Economic Affairs, 2009 First Published in 2009 ISBN: 978-9966-7183-8-9 Institute of Economic Affairs 2 Table of Content Acknowledgement .......................................................................................................................7 Executive Summary .....................................................................................................................8 Abbreviations and Acronyms ....................................................................................................12 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................13 1.1. Water resources in Kenya: An overview .........................................................................13 1.2. The Tana River Drainage Basin ......................................................................................15 1.3. Mbeere District ..............................................................................................................15 1.3.1. Geographic Location & Topography ..........................................................................15 1.3.2. Rainfall Patterns & Temperatures ..............................................................................16 1.3.3. Natural Resources and Land uses ...............................................................................17 1.3.4. Demographic and Poverty Characteristics ..................................................................17 1.3.5. Livelihood Systems .....................................................................................................18 1.3.6. Selection of Study Site ................................................................................................19 1.4. Water Development in Mbeere district ..........................................................................19 1.5. Objective and Scope of the Mapping Exercise ................................................................21 1.6. The implementing Team ................................................................................................23 1.7. Methodologies, Tools and Activities ...............................................................................23 1.7.1. Inception Phase ..........................................................................................................23 1.7.2. Preparatory Phase .......................................................................................................23 1.7.3. Field Data Collection .................................................................................................24 1.7.4. Analysis and Generation of Outputs ..........................................................................24 1.8. Layout of the Report ......................................................................................................24 2. Spatial Distribution of Water Points in the Location ........................................................25 3. Characterisation of Water Points and Sewerage Systems ...................................................37 3.1. Types of Water Points in Mbeti South Location ............................................................37 3.2. Status and Year of Establishment ...................................................................................38 3.3. Registration and metering of water points ......................................................................39 3.4. Mode of abstraction and amounts abstracted .................................................................39 3.5. Ownership and Gender Aspects .....................................................................................41 3.6. Location and its Influence on Access to Water ..............................................................43 3.7. Distances to Water Points ..............................................................................................45 3.8. Water Sources, Availability and Point of Collection ......................................................45 Institute of Economic Affairs 3 3.9. Depth and Capacity of Water Points ..............................................................................47 3.10. Water Uses and Cost Implications .............................................................................47 3.11. Sewerage Situation in the Location .............................................................................50 4. Operational status, Funding and Management ..................................................................52 4.1. Operational Status .........................................................................................................52 4.2. Funding Water Projects and the Role of Community ....................................................53 4.3. Management of Water Points .........................................................................................53 5. Water Standards, Protection and Challenges .....................................................................56 5.1. Water Standards and Protection of Water Points ..........................................................56 5.2. Challenges and Threats ..................................................................................................56 6. Synthesis and Policy Implications ......................................................................................58 6.1. Spatial Distribution of Water Points ..............................................................................58 6.2. Characteristics of Water Points ......................................................................................58 6.3. Water Supply, Costs and Funding ..................................................................................60 6.4. Management & Protection .............................................................................................61 7. Conclusions and Recommendations .................................................................................62 References .................................................................................................................................64 Appendices ................................................................................................................................66 Appendix 1: Questionnaire Used to Collect Attribute Information .........................................66 Appendix 2: Photographs showing the water points and their conditions ................................69 Appendix 3: Attributes information for the water points ..........................................................70 Institute of Economic Affairs 4 List of Tables Table 1: Major River Basins and Their Potential (Nema, 2003)..................................................13 Table 2: The 1999 Demographic Characteristics in the Four Divisions .....................................17 Table 3: Agro- Climatic Zones of Mbeere......................................................................................18 Table 4: Population By Sex, Households, Area And Density for Mbeti South Location............25 Table 5: Status of Water Points .....................................................................................................38 Table 6: Categorization of Abstraction Methods with Types of Water Points ............................40 Table 7: Summary of Water Quantities Abstracted from the Water Points................................41 Table 8: Gender Perspective in Private Owned Water Points......................................................43 Table 9: Location of Mapped Water Points..................................................................................43 Table 10: Sources of Water for the Water Points.........................................................................45 Table 11: Water Availability by Time of Spot Check ...................................................................46 Table 12: Depth Statistics For Wells, Boreholes And Water Holes.............................................47 Table 13: Estimated Storage Capacity of Tanks and Dams..........................................................47 Table 14: Initial and Current Water Uses in the Location..........................................................48 Table 15: Estimated Households Using the Water Points ...........................................................48 Table 16: Proportion of Population Accessing Water ..................................................................49 Table 17: Population Proportion Benefiting from the Water Points ..........................................49 Table 18: Water Uses for Livestock Watering and Irrigation ......................................................50 Table 19: Operational Status for the Various Categories of Water Points..................................52 Table 20: Sources of Funding for the Water Points .....................................................................53