INTRODUCTION

• Traditionally water quality has been managed by protection of sources and/or treatment of water supplies.

• As a check on the cleanliness of the supplied water, water samples from the supply are tested from time to time.

• Where this monitoring indicates that water quality is compromised, remedial measures are taken to rectify the situation.

• In extreme cases water quality problems may be identified through manifestation of diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera or typhoid in the local population.

PROBLEMS WITH THE TRADITIONAL APPROACH

• Relying on water quality monitoring and/or outbreaks of disease means that once problems are identified it is already too late and the quality of the supply is already compromised.

• Treating contaminated water sources/supplies with mitigation measures such as widespread chlorination is a ‘reactive’ or ‘curative’ measure rather than a ‘proactive’ or ‘preventative’ and does not get to the root of the problem. Hence contamination can be expected to re-occur in future.

AIM OF WATER SAFETY PLANNING

To assist those responsible for drinking water safety to better understand the risks to their water sources and water supplies, and implement simple checks and management measures to ensure water safety.

ACTIVITIES INVOLVED

Description of the water supply system; Identification of risks to water safety e.g. through use of

sanitary surveillance techniques and monitoring water quality

Identification of measures to control those risks; Assigning responsibilities for undertaking control

measures Identifying capacity building requirements for

responsible persons/bodies Developing a procedure for checking the Water Safety

Plan is functioning effectively.

STAGES OF THE WATER SAFETY PLANNING EXERCISE

Preparatory:• Obtain National Level commitment• Obtain Water Service Board commitment for schemes

in their jurisdiction• Obtain Water Service Provider commitment for their

particular schemes• Undertake institutional and organisational review for

each scheme (identify stakeholders)• Form Water Safety Team for each scheme• Identify human resource capacity gaps and where

these can be overcome by capacity building• Define tools for system assessments of piped water

schemes 

STAGES CONT…Water Safety Plan Development: Conduct system assessments (risk) Develop Water Safety Plan matrix Identify infrastructure/supply gapsWater Safety Plan Implementation: Address infrastructure/supply gaps Verify effectiveness of Water Safety Plan

through monitoring and surveillance (potentially involving communities)

Review and update Water Safety Plan Frequent Training/capacity building

STAKEHOLDERS

In a Kenyan context the likely Water Safety stakeholders are as follows:

• Ministry of Water and Irrigation (water policy)• Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation (public

health and sanitation)• Ministry of Medical Services (health service

provision)• Water consumers possibly represented by Water

Users Associations/CBOs• Water Service Providers (water service provider)• Water Service Boards (water supply infrastructure,

engagement and regulation of service provider) • Water Services Regulatory Board (overall water

service regulator)• WRMA

SUCCESSES Discussions with Stakeholders MOWI, MOPHS, Boards, WSP, WRMA Communities

System description; 37 schemes were completed

SUCCESSES CONT’ Identification of risks to water safety e.g.

through use of sanitary surveillance techniques;

Identification of measures to control those risks;

Assigning responsibilities for undertaking control measures

Identifying capacity building requirements for responsible persons/bodies

Developing a procedure for checking the Water Safety Plan is functioning effectively.

Water Safety Plan Development; Training/capacity building, Conduct system assessments, Develop Water Safety Plan matrix, Identify infrastructure/supply gaps

CHALLENGES

• Few staff and lack of water quality knowledge in water supply

• Generally water testing was rarely done at the supply and the companies

• Most water supplies were poorly maintained.

• There were no laboratories and laboratory equipment in the water supplies.

• Scheme maps were not updated or were non existent.

CHALLENGES CONT….

• Electricity costs are high• Water loss due to leakages are

rampant• Revenue cannot support services • Maintenance is poor• Most of the schemes are old and need

major rehabilitation.

LESSONS LEARNT Importance of the process; In overall, the general awareness-raising regarding

the importance of water safety/water quality was very beneficial at the schemes. In most places, people understood the concept.

Engaging Stakeholders; Involving all partners such as DPHO, PHO, WRMA and CBOs/NGOs in the process has lead to better working relationship towards the same goal.

Strengthening the capacity of the Water Service Providers formed under the 2002 Water Act was very urgently required and hence a very useful intervention.

LESSONS LEARNT CONT’ Involvement of Public Health, communities; The Public Health staff have been provided with

equipment for routine checking of the water quality they can feedback results to the WSPs and act ‘on the ground’ as regulator of the quality of water supplied

Collecting Details on the Economics of Scheme Operation;

One underlying issue was the economic viability of the scheme i.e. income v expenditure.

thus, a number of schemes not currently economically viable, are dependant on external support such as the MoWI or local well-wishers for their survival

This is the cause of many problems and poor performance as regards maintenance of physical infrastructure and water treatment and disinfection operations.

LESSONS LEARNT CONT’

Applicability of the Water Safety Planning Approach in Kenyan Context ; .

Development of a Water Safety Plan assumes a basic level of technical knowledge of those involved.

It was necessary to raise the level of technical knowledge of staff before introducing the complexities of a Water Safety Plan

Focus was given first to training on basic principles of water treatment and

disinfection.operation and maintenance of treatment

works and distribution systemswater quality monitoring and mitigation.

LESSONS LEARNT CONT’Technical Training; KEWI provided ‘on the job’ training at the

scheme and tailored each training to cover operational issues of importance to the particular scheme. This was better than a theoretical, classroom based training.

Supply of ConsumablesThere appeared to be a regular supply of consumables, such as alum, soda ash and chlorine, to the majority of schemes by MoWI or the WSB

Personal Protective Equipment for Chemical Attendants lacking in majority of schemes

KEWI TRAINING: WUNDANYI, MASENO-KOMBEWA, KAJULU & SIDINDI

LESSONS LEARNT CONT’Unaccounted for water is high, eg, 70-90% are common.

This represents cost to which no income is forthcoming.Causes : Old and run-down infrastructure leading to

excessive leakages and burstsLack of water metering and prevalence of flat rate where

consumers take more water than they actually pay forLack of master meters or faulty master meters meaning

the volume of water actually supplied/abstracted is overestimated

Corruption of water supply operatives i.e. ‘turning a blind eye’ to illegal connections or even complicity in sustaining illegal connections for which no income is forthcoming to the scheme

 

UNACCOUNTED FOR WATER

(a) Marere Water Supply Intake(a) Marere Water Supply Intake (b) Leakage on the mainline, about 100metres from Marere Water Supply(b) Leakage on the mainline, about 100metres from Marere Water Supply

(c) Treated water pouring to waste at Madabara 1 Pumping Station(c) Treated water pouring to waste at Madabara 1 Pumping Station

PHYSICAL CONDITION OF INFRASTRUCTURE Design and construction quality in many cases

seems to have been good, however, maintenance and further investment over the years are lacking

Lack of solution tanks and dosing equipment for alum/chlorine;

Filter media requiring replacement hence filters bypassed;

Lack of scour valves for ground tanks; Exposed pipework including exposed PVC pipes

in inappropriate areas; ie along drainage ditches; Leaking valves /lack of valve chambers

Poor quality repairs to burst pipes e.g. with wrapping the pipe with a piece of rubber; Standposts/taps with poor drainage and lack of concrete platforms.

PHYSICAL CONDITION CONT....... The majority of schemes had no equipment for

testing basic water quality. Jar testing equipment for determining alum dosing

was absent at the vast majority. Majority used experience and ‘trial and error’.

Weighing scales for measuring quantities of chemicals for dosing are also absent at the majority of schemes

Knowledge of chlorine demand, the principles of chlorination and the necessity of ensuring residual chlorine to prevent re-contamination of water during distribution was limited.

Equipment for mixing and dosing water treatment and disinfection chemicals are generally improvised at the majority of schemes

WELL CONSTRUCTED BOREHOLE

VALVE CONTAINED IN LOCKED VALVE CHAMBER

Well protected valve. Low risk

WELL CONSTRUCTED WATER KIOSK

Water kiosk

GOOD DESIGNS: RONGO WATER SUPPLY

VALVE WITHOUT VALVE CHAMBER AND IN UNSANITARY CONDITION: HIGH RISK

PIPEWORK IN UNSANITARY CONDITIONS

Pipe in garbage

UNSANITARY HOUSEHOLD TAP 

PHYSICAL CONDITION OF DOZERS

IMPROVISED DOZERS CONT….

OPERATIONAL STAFFWater Supply Operational Staff; The technical capacity of staff of the Water

Service Providers is very variable. Some schemes have well qualified,

dedicated and experienced op/ staff i.e Water Operators, Pump Attendants, Chemical Attendants, Pipe Fitters and Line Patrollers.

Other schemes perhaps have a qualified and experienced Scheme Manager, but operational staff with little or no theoretical knowledge of operation of a water supply.

PROBLEMS FACING OPERATIONAL STAFFTransfer of Government staff to the Water

Service Providers under the Sector Reform process seems to have been variably completed.

Many of the actual staff operating water supplies are still permanent Government employees. One upshot of this is that staff are liable to transfers to other posts within the Government system at any time.

Lack of allegiance of MOWI staff to the company and the scheme. lack of ownership or commitment of the staff of the Water Service Providers. This may be partly due to the lack of assimilation of Government staff into the Water Service Providers . No incentives

ACHIEVMENTS SO FAR.. Awareness-raising regarding the importance of

WSPs Engaging Stakeholders Collecting Details of each scheme (systems description) Training/capacity building, Conducting system

assessments, Develop Water Safety Plan matrix, Identify infrastructure/supply gaps Strengthening the capacity of the Water

Service Providers formed under the 2002 Water Act

training on basic principles of water treatment Providing testing equipment to 37 water schemes Testing water quality currently performed in most

Water Service Providers Implementation of water safety plan on going

(System improvement of selected water supply schemes), water quality monitoring ETC

WATER QUALITY MONITORING: KALOKOL, LODWAR

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 2011 Obtaining endorsement of senior government

officials and mainstreaming WSP within government systems.

Policy formulation of water safety in Kenya Routine “external” water quality surveillance/

monitoring and reporting by Public Health Officers using paqualabs and community groups using H2S kits

Addressing the underlying Issues; examining potential solutions to the issues eg.involve officials from Kenya Power and Lighting

System improvement of selected water supply schemes

Continued Capacity Building Additional Supplies i.e Dozers

RECOMMENDATIONS CONT…. Implementing the Operational Improvements

in the Water Safety Plans Produce Scheme-Specific Operational

Procedures Continued support for Government

counterparts and water quality officers from the Boards and companies

More information on water safety plan from external stakeholders i.e IWA, WHO, USEPA etc

Training on how to Audit water safety plan

END

THANK YOU