Water is a scarce resource. In certain parts of Nairobi, Kenya, water is hard to come by. This has created a market for informal vendors to exist. Often these vendors sell water at highly inflated prices and they often take water from cut municipality pipes, which can lead to contaminated water. But the vendors are necessary because they provide people with water which they would normally struggle to access. This means that steps need to be taken to ensure that water is provided to people in a cost-effective and safe way.
In today’s episode of Pasha, Anindita Sarkar, an assistant professor at the University of Delhi, explains how water is supplied in settlements like this – including through water ATMs – and how the market can be improved.
Read more: Why Kenya’s urban poor are exploited by informal water markets
Photo: “A young boy carries heavy water containers to his home in the back alleys of Mathare informal settlement on July 9, 2020 in Nairobi, Kenya.” By Alissa Everett found on Getty Images
Music
“Happy African Village” by John Bartmann, found on FreeMusicArchive.org licensed under CC0 1.
“Chamber Ambience” by Nasienie, found on FreeMusicArchive.org licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License..
