Title: Implications of time to water source on water use in the arid and semi-arid land counties of Kenya

Authors: Augustine Otieno Afullo; Benjamin Oginga Danga; Frank Odhiambo

Addresses: Office of International Programs, North Central College, 30N Brainard Street, Naperville 60540, Illinois, USA ' Department of Agricultural Resources Management, Kenyatta University, P.O. Box 43844-00100, Nairobi, Kenya ' Water, Engineering and Development Centre, The John Pickford Building, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, LE11, 3TU, UK

Abstract: Distance to water sources has major implications on per capita water use for Kenya's arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs). About 4,872 household (HH) heads in six ASAL counties of Kenya were identified using probability and non-probability sampling techniques, and pretested structured questionnaire, key informant interviews and focus group discussions administered to them. There are at least seven different water sources, with 49.42 ± 0.36 minutes being the mean walk time for a round trip of water, limiting water access to 17.02 ± 0.17 litres per capita per day (lcd). These statistics have had a result that only 33% of HHs in Kenya's ASALS have attained the millennium development goal number 7c (MDG7c) on improved water, rendering its achievement by 2015 a myth. As a result, household water use and time taken on a trip for water shows a negative but significant relationship.

Keywords: opportunity cost; fetching water; water burden; children; women; per capita water use; water access; water sources; water supply; arid regions; semi-arid regions; Kenya; time to water source; distance to water source; walk time; round trips; household water use.

DOI: 10.1504/IJW.2014.065794

International Journal of Water, 2014 Vol.8 No.4, pp.381 - 400

Received: 13 Dec 2012
Accepted: 13 Apr 2013
Published online: 29 Nov 2014 *

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