Households with Access to Safe Drinking Water in Kenya

A household in Kenya is considered to have access to safe drinking water if its main source of water is improved and shielded from contamination. 

Improved sources of water include piped water, boreholes with pumps, bottled water, rainwater, protected wells, and protected springs.^[1]

A water source is unimproved if it does not have any barriers that prevent the contamination of the water. They include unprotected wells and springs. Individuals who drink water from unimproved water sources are at risk of waterborne diseases.

Quick Facts

• The percentage of households in Kenya with access to an improved water source in 2022 was 80.4%.
• The share of households using unimproved water sources was 6.8%.
• 12.8% of households relied on surface water sources, including rivers, lakes, and streams.

The majority of Kenyan households had access to an improved water source

Many households in Kenya have access to an improved source of drinking water. According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, 80.4% of Kenyan households in 2022 had access to an improved water source.^[2] 

Conversely, 12.8% of Kenyan households relied on surface water sources such as lakes, rivers, and streams.

6.8% of households used unimproved water sources as their main sources of drinking water. These are households that got their water from unprotected wells and springs.

Among households using improved sources, a majority had access to piped water.

In 2022, 25.3% of households had access to piped water in their houses, yards, or plots. In urban areas, 40.1% of households had access to piped water, while in rural areas, only 15.3% of households had such access.

The percentage of households whose main source of water was piped to a neighbor was 5.1%, public tap 11.1%, borehole 7.6%, protected dug well 6.5%, protected spring 7.6%, rainwater 8%, tanker truck 2.2%, and bottled water 7%.

Little progress has been made in increasing piped water access

Only 25.3% of Kenyan households had access to piped water in 2022. However, looking at thirty years of data, we find that access to piped water has declined.

For instance, the share of households accessing piped water in urban areas declined from a high of 84.8% in 1989 to 24.2% in 2019.^{[3] [4]}

In rural areas, piped water access dropped from 16.6% in 1989 to 12.9% in 2019. 

Majority of households in Kenya spent less than 30 minutes to obtain water

Even though some households may have access to improved water sources, the time it takes to obtain the water may be significantly longer. These households are, therefore, described as having a limited service, when the time it takes to obtain the water is more than 30 minutes.

In Kenya, 13.9% of households have limited service and spend more than thirty minutes on a roundtrip to obtain water.^[5]

Most households with limited service are found in rural areas, where 21.5% of households spent more than 30 minutes obtaining water, compared to only 2.7% of households in urban areas.

A majority of households have at least a basic service of water access, meaning they use improved sources of water, and the time it takes them to obtain water is less than 30 minutes.

Moreover, 53.3% of households had water on their premises and spent zero minutes obtaining water. In urban areas, 72.5% of households had water on the premises, compared to 40.3% of households in rural areas. 

On the other hand, 32.2% of households had at least a basic service but spent less than thirty minutes on a round trip to obtain water. Most of these households (37.7%) were in rural areas, and 24% were in urban areas.

Most counties had access to at least a basic service of drinking water

In most counties in Kenya, a majority of the population had access to improved sources of water and spent less than 30 minutes obtaining water.

In Nairobi, for instance, 98.6% of the population had access to at least a basic service of drinking water. Others include:

1. Kiambu 94.2%
2. Nyeri 90.7%
3. Nyandarua 89.5%
4. Murang’a 80.6%
5. Kirinyaga 76.2%
6. Vihiga 75.2%
7. Kakamega 74.4%
8. Kajiado 73.8%

Some counties, however, had lower access to at least a basic service of drinking water, meaning they did not get most of their drinking water from improved sources or had to spend a lot of time obtaining water.

Kitui had the lowest access to at least a basic service of drinking water, with only 21.2% of the population accessing a basic service. More than half of the population in Kitui (58.6%) relied on surface water sources.

Other counties with low basic access to drinking water include:

1. Samburu 28.6%
2. West Pokot 38.1%
3. Turkana 48.7%
4. Kisii 44.4%
5. Makueni 46%
6. Nandi 46.2%
7. Kwale 46.7%
8. Narok 48.2%
9. Siaya 48.5%

See Also

1. Piped water access in Kenyan households
2. Access to basic sanitation services in Kenya by County
3. Number of people using the internet in Kenya by county
4. Population access to electricity in Kenya by County

References