Most households in Kenya are still far from getting access to sanitation facilities that meet reasonable standards as enshrined in Article 43 of the Constitution of Kenya.
A 2022 WASREB impact report puts Kenya’s sewer network coverage at a paltry 16 percent, a far cry from the 80 percent target set in 2008 when the Kenya Vision 2030 was unveiled.
The overwhelming majority of our population currently rely on onsite sanitation such as septic tanks and pit latrines.
The dire consequences of this reality are visibly seen in the sorry state of Kenyan rivers, particularly the Nairobi, Mathare and Ngong.
These rivers are choked with foul-smelling sewage and industrial waste, plaguing the country with perennial waterborne diseases like cholera and typhoid.
A 2023 WHO bulletin shows the country recorded over 7,800 cases of cholera and 122 preventable deaths since October 2022. This translates to about 780 cases and 12 preventable deaths every month.
The slow growth in the sewerage network could imply low investments towards this infrastructure or the population is growing faster than the development of these networks.
With Kenya’s population rapidly growing from 37.7 million recorded in the 2009 census to 47.6 million in 2019, existing sewer infrastructure gets overburdened by the day.
This situation is bound to be exacerbated by the government’s affordable housing programme. Concerted efforts are required from all sectors – private, public and academic – to achieve countrywide standard sanitation by 2030.
Alternative wastewater treatment solutions that employ modern technologies, ranging from basic to advanced technologies, are now available in the market.
Unlike the old sewage treatment solutions and conventional septic tanks or onsite sanitation facilities, the modern units incorporate treatment of sludge, to ensure treated effluent is safe for discharge into storm drains or for reuse in irrigation, toilet flushing and general cleaning purposes.
Treating and stabilising the sludge eliminates the need for exhauster services, popularly known as honey suckers, which remain a challenge faced by property owners with septic tanks and pit latrines.
Wastewater treatment plants such as the moving bed bioreactor (MBBR), sequential batch reactor (SBR) and membrane bioreactor (MBR) are also now in the market.
These treatment systems significantly reduce pollutants and contaminants in wastewater to stringent NEMA discharge standards.
