Determinants of water demand in Kibera informal settlement in Nairobi county, Kenya

Abstract

In developing countries, it has become increasingly hard to keep up with the demand for proper sanitation and water treatment. Water is an essential component of life and its availability and quality are crucial. The daunting task facing local authorities is how to adequately supply clean potable water to the predominantly poverty-stricken urban dwellers. Although access to water in rural areas is lower than in urban areas, the proportion of the poor is higher than in the urban areas. The purpose of this study was to establish the determinants of water demand in Kibera informal settlement in Nairobi County. The objectives of the study were to establish the effect of price, household size, gender, income of household head, education, age and occupation on water demand in informal settlement of Kibera in Nairobi County. The study adopted a demandresponsive model and Stone-Geary model based on the explanatory research design. The target population was 15,000 individuals living in the Kibera informal settlement. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select respondents from the strata. From the target population of 15,000 a sample size of 390 respondents was selected. Data was collected using both a questionnaire and the interview guide and thereafter analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Regression results (R2 =0.843) indicated that the determinants of water demand accounted for 84.3% of the total variation in water demand in the informal settlement. Variables such as age (β1 =- 0.091, P<0.01); household size (β2 = 0.087, P<0.01); income (β3 = 0.456, P<0.01); price (β4 = -0.542, P<0.01); gender (β5 = 0.105, P=0.01<); education (β6 = -0.191 (P<0.01) and occupation (β7 = -0.079, P<0.01) had significant relationship with water demand. Gender and income had positive and significant relationship with water demand while price, age, education, occupation and household size had negative and significant relationship with the demand for water. As such, the study recommends that the county government of Nairobi should establish a price policy which corresponds to the water demand in informal settlement. There is also need for the county government to improve the income generating activities in the informal settlement in order for residents to earn extra money to boost water consumption.