Figure 4 Trend in Water and Sewerage Coverage in Kenya 2009-2019

and sewerage sanitation coverage is at 17%.23 Figure 4 shows the trend in water and sewerage coverage in Kenya from 2009 to 2019 according to the WASREB’s Impact report.

Figure 4 Trend in Water and Sewerage Coverage in Kenya 2009-2019

Source: WASREB (2020)

4.1.3 The UN Special Rapporteur’s Visit to Kenya

The status of the realisation to Human Rights to Water Sanitation was also observed and rated in-person by the UN Special Rapporteur. In 2014, Catarina de Albuquerque, the first UN Special Rapporteur on the right to safe drinking water and sanitation, appointed by the Human Rights Council, have undertaken an official visit to Kenya with an invitation from the Government of Kenya, on a mission to investigate the water and sanitation status in Kenya and the challenges in the realisation of the human rights to water and sanitation (OHCHR, 2014).24 In the statement, Catarina de Albuquerque points out that the Government of Kenya has legal obligations to take deliberate measures to ensure the realisation of the human rights to water and sanitation, because the government has ratified relevant international human rights treaties in the past (OHCHR, 2014).25

23 However, the data from the Impacts reports will not be used in this study, since there is a limitation in the data; the data only covers the population served by Water Service Providers (WSPs), not the entire population of Kenya. 24 Catarina de Albuquerque’s statement on Kenya’s water and sanitation status includes water and sanitation data from the year 2012, hence this data is not presented in this section to avoid confusion, and more recent data is presented in the later section for SDG6 performance. 25 Including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (A/HRC/30/39/Add.2).

In the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation (2015), it further emphasises that the government has an obligation to ensure the rights to water and sanitation on a non-discriminatory basis, giving special attention for the disadvantaged or marginalised groups (A/HRC/30/39/Add.2, para. 4). The report also acknowledges that Kenya was one of the first States that included the basic rights to water and sanitation in the constitution, and that it demonstrates a clear commitment to realising such rights. Nevertheless, it emphasises that the government has an obligation to develop national standards and indicators at policy level, to monitor every element of the human rights to water and sanitation (para. 20), with consideration of existing service levels, local contexts, and settlement types (para. 21). The report stresses that it is critical for the government to clarify the responsibilities of actors to be accountable (para. 22), since there are some contradictions in some policies, such as between the County Governments Act of 2012 and the Water Bill (para. 19).26 As mentioned in the earlier section on the human rights-based approaches, the availability, accessibility, affordability, acceptability and quality/safety (AAAAQ) approach is considered in the report by the Special Rapporteur. The report points out that from the data collected, there are significant inequalities in the provision between formal and informal settlements, and between urban and rural areas (para. 24). It was observed by the Special Rapporteur that collecting drinking water takes a significant part for daily lives of many Kenyans, thus not very accessible or always available (para. 25). The quality of water in Kenya is monitored and reported by the Water Services Regulatory Board (WSRB), which is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Health, but unfortunately this only applied to the formal sector, and the quality of water in informal and small-scale providers and not being monitored, which makes it not always acceptable or safe to drink (para. 26). It was also observed that the prices of water at unregulated water points were much higher than the piped water tariffs, which makes it unaffordable for those who are living in poverty (para. 33). The report states that the policy of Kenya aims to ensure a minimum of 20 litres per day per person; however, it has been observed that many people in low-income households consume less than 20 litres a day, and many do not have reliable source of water supply (paras. 46-48). For sanitation, the performance is really poor, and according to the report, one of the challenges is that the policy and legislation on sanitation in Kenya entitles

26 The County Governments Act can be interpreted as giving the competence of regulation to county governments, whereas the Water Bill gives the Water Services Regulatory Authority (WSRA) the regulatory powers and functions to determine and prescribe national standards for the provision of water services, approve water and sewerage tariffs imposed by the county water services providers and monitor compliance with standards by the water services providers, among others.

individual households to be responsible of having their own sanitation facilities while for many households building a sanitation facility is unaffordable or they do not have the authority to build one due to tenure issues (para. 28). It is noted that although it is not required for the government to provide free services for all; however, in the case where people cannot afford to enjoy their basic rights, the government has the obligation to provide direct services (para. 29). Also, it was observed that there are insufficient or lack of investment in sewerage and wastewater management in Kenya, and to realise the human right to sanitation, the government should put more efforts in promoting and emphasising the use of toilets and safe disposal of the waste matter (para. 30). Moreover, there are no affordability standards for sanitation nor for the informal services to empty the pit latrines and septic tanks (paras. 43-44). Hence, the report urges the government to provide financial and technological support to improve the affordability and safety of sanitation services (para. 44). While it was acknowledged in the report that Kenya is indeed making efforts in better managing the water supply by undertaking water sector reforms (para. 51), it also addresses that the water and sanitation services in Kenya are not sustainable (paras. 52-56). The high levels of non-revenue water (NRW) due to technical problems, leakages and illegal connections is one of the concerns in sustainable management of water resources (para. 55), since the cost recovery is an important aspect in sustaining such system to cover the fees for operations and maintenance (para. 56). Finally, the report also addresses the inequality in the provision of water in urban and rural areas (paras. 71-74), the lack of provision in informal settlements (paras. 75-77), and special attention on women and girls (paras. 78-81); and the report ends with recommendations to the Kenyan Government (para. 84) and to the international community (para. 85).

4.2 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Performance in Kenya

From the earlier section on Kenya’s current development Kenya Vision 2030, it was observed that the government of Kenya stresses the sustainable development of the country. In this section, the overall SDGs performance in Kenya and specifically the SDG 6 are presented, analysing the water and sanitation gaps between the policies and the actual implementations.

4.2.1 Sustainable Development Report 2021

According to the Sustainable Development Report 2021, 27 the overall SDGs performance for Kenya stands at 118 of 165 UN member states, with the SDG index score28 of 60.60 out of 100. Figure 5 shows the trend in the overall SDGs performance for Kenya since the year 2000. It can be observed that there is an improvement in the overall performance, from 51.26 to 60.60.

Figure 5 Sustainable Development Goals Performance Index Scores for Kenya, 2000-2021

Source: Sustainable Development Report (2021)

Although this graph shows a positive trend for the SDG performances in Kenya, when compared amongst the SDGs, the performance for SDG 6 has the third lowest score, below 50, as shown in Figure 6. From Figure 6, it can be observed that the SDG 9 and 10 with lowest scores29 are closely related to SDG 6, since achieving the water goal would require building resilient infrastructure, sustainable industrialisation, innovation, and reducing the social and economic inequality in water provision for the people.

27 The Sustainable Development Report, which presents the SDG Index and Dashboards for all UN member states, is prepared by team of independent experts at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Bertelsmann Stiftung.

28 The SDG Index score is given according to the selected indicators by the experts. More information is available on the SDG index score and methodology here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/sustainabledevelopment.report/2021/2021-sustainable-development-report.pdf

29 SDG 9 is on building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and fostering innovation, and SDG 10 is on reducing inequality within and among countries.