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.
Country
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
This Policy Brief, based on an article by Koehler et al (2018), explores how drinking water risks are managed in rural Africa and considers pluralist institutional arrangements that enable risks and responsibilities to be re-conceptualised and re-allocated between the state, market and communities to create value for rural water users.
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.
Exploring policy perceptions and responsibility of devolved decision-making for water service delivery in Kenya’s 47 county governments
This paper examines whether devolution to Kenya’s 47 counties advances the constitutional mandate for the human right to water. The author draws on interviews from all county water ministries to develop and test a sociopolitical risk model leveraging public choice theory.
Understanding river water quality risks to promote economic growth and reduce poverty in Dhaka
In this policy brief, the authors present new data and provisional findings from river water monitoring sites together with a survey of over 1,800 households. Regulatory compliance is assessed at these sites along the Tongi-Turag-Balu Rivers using spatial analysis and suggest strategies to support progress toward achieving target reductions in wastewater and improving safe water for all.
