Rural areas largely rely on shared water points often at considerable distance, paying a higher price per m3 and spending more time in water collection or buying from intermediaries which pushes the price further up. For instance in Machakos, individuals travel for not less than 3 Km to fetch water. The impact of inadequate access to safe drinking water is most felt amongst the poor, creating a vicious circle of disease and poverty
In Kangundo Sub County, out of 10 major risk factors causing ill health, unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene were ranked as no. 1. Contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio. Absent, inadequate, or inappropriately managed water services expose individuals to preventable health risks. Some 842 000 globally people are estimated to die each year from diarrhoea as a result of unsafe drinking-water, sanitation, and hand hygiene. Yet diarrhoea is largely preventable, and the deaths of 361 000 children aged under 5 years could be avoided each year if these risk factors were addressed. Where water is not readily available, people may decide handwashing is not a priority, thereby adding to the likelihood of diarrhoea and other diseases.
The task of collecting water is borne primarily by women and children in over nine in ten households[1]. With unclean water sources often over 3 kilometres from villages, these women and children are forced to spend an average of 2 hours each day simply finding and transporting water. The typical container used for water collection, the jerry can, weighs over 40 pounds when it’s completely full. Imagine how demanding it would be to carry the equivalent of a 5-year-old child for three hours out of each day. And some women carry even more, up to 70 pounds in a barrel carried on the back.
