This paper presents a conceptual framework addressing groundwater governance and management issues to promote water security for the poor in Kenya’s urban areas. The approach is flexible, scalable, transferrable, can be monitored using set indicators and is thus directly relevant to practitioners and policy makers working towards the development of holistic and effective solutions for groundwater development, supply, and governance.
2018
A Hybrid Approach to Decolonize Formal Water Law in Africa
This study, funded by REACH as part of an Accelerated Grant, explains the state of water permitting in sub-Saharan Africa and proposes a hybrid approach to water law as the way forward.
Gender dimensions of community-based groundwater governance in Ethiopia: using citizen science as an entry point
This study uses a citizen-science approach to community-based monitoring of groundwater to improve governance, while also empowering women in Ethiopia
Finding sustainable water futures in data-sparse regions under climate change: Insights from the Turkwel River basin, Kenya
Kenya’s Turkwel river basin experiences a high level of water scarcity due to its arid climate, high rainfall variability and rapidly growing water demand. In this paper, a novel decision-scaling approach was applied to model the response of the Turkwel river basin’s water resources system to growing demand and climate stressors.
Understanding factors and actors to achieve sustainable drinking water systems in Kitui County, Kenya
Despite significant progress in building over 3,000 waterpoints across Kitui County in recent years, the challenge of providing sustainable drinking water services remains high. This brief presents the ranking of different factors for sustainable systems based on priorities of 42 Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) actors in a forum hosted in February 2018.
Gender and water security in Burkina Faso: lessons for adaptation
Residents of Burkina Faso’s Nouaho sub-basin are exposed to water-related hazards such as inadequate quantities of water, poor sanitation, and flooding, which are exacerbated by climate change. This brief explores gender-differentiated water security risks in Nouaho sub-basin, with the aim of informing the development of adaptation strategies in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector.
Restoring water quality in the polluted Turag-Tongi-Balu river system, Dhaka: Modelling nutrient and total coliform intervention strategies
The authors undertook a baseline survey of water chemistry and pathogens in Dhaka’s Turag-Tongi-Balu River System.
Assessing the Impact of a Risk-Based Intervention on Piped Water Quality in Rural Communities: The Case of Mid-Western Nepal
In this journal article, the authors assess the effectiveness of a risk-based strategy to improve drinking water safety for five gravity-fed piped schemes in rural communities of the Mid-Western Region of Nepal. The strategy is based on establishing community-led monitoring of the microbial water quality and the sanitary status of the schemes.
A cultural theory of drinking water risks, values and institutional change
In this article published in Global Environmental Change, the authors apply Mary Douglas’ cultural theory to rural waterpoint management and discuss its operationalisation in pluralist arrangements through networking different management cultures at scale. The theory is tested in coastal Kenya, drawing on findings from a longitudinal study of 3500 households.
The water diary method – proof-of-concept and policy implications for monitoring water use behaviour in rural Kenya
The water diaries method consists of collecting comprehensive evidence on daily sources, uses, cost and sufficiency of water, along with weekly household expenditures. In this paper, published in Water Policy, the authors pilot the water diaries method in Kitui, Kenya and evaluate its measurement, internal and external validity.
