Unemployed Mombasa youth find solution in water kiosks

People fetch water at one of the kiosks in Mombasa. [PHOTO: MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD]

By PHILIP MWAKIO

Close to 100,000 Mombasa residents living in informal settlements can now breathe easy.

This follows the provision of clean tapped water right at their doorsteps in a project undertaken by the Mombasa Water Supply and Sanitation Company (Mowasco).

The water kiosks build with funding from the Water Services Trust Fund (WSTF) are managed by locals.

The kiosks have created more than 22 jobs and intents to create 60 more once completed.

WSTF uses the Maji-Data software to carry out survey and map out informal settlements where water is scarce.

Low priced water

MajiData gets technical support provided by GIZ, UN-Habitat, Google.org, ITC Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (University of Twente) and Upande (all part of the H2.0 initiative.

Mowasco Managing Director, Ms Alome Achayo said financial support has aided densely populated Kwa Bulo informal settlement in Nyali constituency at a cost of Sh8 million are fully benefitting from two water kiosks that are providing water to 12500 people.

‘’The water is sold at a very minimal fee of Sh2 per 20 litre container and is purely to go towards maintainance purposes,’’ she said.

MajiData is funded by UN-Habitat, the German Development Bank (KfW), Google.org, GIZ and the WSTF.

Achayo said the initiative by WSTF has been instrumental in ensuring that even the poor have equal access to clean tap water.

“As we supply water to homes of people who can afford connection, there are those who cannot afford. It is our duty as Mowasco to ensure that they too have water for use as it is a right,’’ she said.

She explains that stand-pipe concept was conceived several years ago to provide clean water to informal settlements.

She said that with time, this has evolved into modern day water kiosk business.

“The kiosk of kiosks being put up also have provision to have ration stores for essential commodities like maize flour, salt , sugar, bread and even M-Pesa business,’’ she said.

More benefits

Other locations where the water kiosks under the Pro poor venture have been put up include in the sprawling Mtongwe, Likoni constituency where there are 17000 people drawing water from three kiosks and conducting kiosk businesses.

The Mtongwe venture cost sh14 million. Achayo said that another area where works are ongoing is the Junda- Vikwathani area in Kisauni constituency where Sh10 million is being used to put up the water kiosks to serve an estimated 15000 people.

Achayo said that some of the informal settlement schemes are located along main pipeline that supplies water like in the case of Nguu Tatu in Kisauni .

‘’ With water kiosks in place, cases of people vandalising water lines in search of water are drastically reduced as they have water kiosks to provide them with the precious commodity,’’ she noted.