Most countries maintain regulatory requirements for testing of drinking water supplies to guide t... more Most countries maintain regulatory requirements for testing of drinking water supplies to guide treatment procedures and ensure safe water delivery to consumers. It is unclear, however, if water quality data are always used effectively, particularly in low-resource settings. Efforts to improve the use of water quality data will benefit from a comprehensive understanding of existing systems for managing and sharing information. This study evaluates the methods used to organize, analyze, and transmit drinking water quality data among 26 water supplier or surveillance institutions and two regulatory agencies in six countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Following extensive qualitative and quantitative data collection, we developed data flow diagrams to map formal and informal water quality networks. We found high levels of similarities between the information systems established by different institutions operating under different regulatory structures. We determined that the key barriers to ...
Plastic latrine slabs provide a cleanable surface and a coverable squat hole opening. They are a ... more Plastic latrine slabs provide a cleanable surface and a coverable squat hole opening. They are a simple option for upgrading unimproved pit latrines. To measure consumer demand for plastic slabs in rural areas, we conducted i) a voucher-based real-money sales trial in Tanzania in 2015 (n=569) and ii) a real-money auction in Kenya in 2017 (n=322). In Tanzania, 60% of respondents were willing to pay 1 USD, and only 4% were willing to pay 12 USD (compared to the market price of 18 USD). In Kenya, 93% of respondents were willing to pay 1 USD, with only 1% willing to pay the market price of 16 USD. These findings show that there is demand for plastic slabs but at a lower price than what is commercially available. Amongst households who purchased the plastic slabs, 67% had installed them nine months later in Tanzania, versus 58% ten months later in Kenya.
The Kenyan government estimates that 500 billion KES ($5 billion USD) are needed to achieve sanit... more The Kenyan government estimates that 500 billion KES ($5 billion USD) are needed to achieve sanitation coverage targets in urban areas by 2030. To finance these infrastructure improvements, the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Natural Resources is looking at various financing options, including private sector participation, foreign aid, and cross-subsidies. Using a double-bound dichotomous choice method coupled with qualitative interviews, this study investigated willingness to pay for a pro-poor sanitation surcharge among customers of two Kenyan water utilities. 75% of respondents were willing to pay a surcharge, with just over half willing to pay up to 100 KES ($1 USD) per month. The primary determinants of willingness to pay were trust in the water utility to manage the pro-poor surcharge, feelings of solidarity towards people living without sanitation, and satisfaction with current water services.
Improving sanitation conditions in low-income communities is a major challenge for rapidly growin... more Improving sanitation conditions in low-income communities is a major challenge for rapidly growing cities of the developing world. The expenses and logistical difficulties of extending sewerage infrastructure have focused increasing attention on the requirements for safe and cost-effective fecal sludge management services. These services, which are primarily provided by the private sector, include the collection and treatment of fecal waste from latrine pits and septic tanks. To determine the degree to which market forces can promote safe fecal sludge removal in low-income neighborhoods of Kisumu, Kenya, we compared household willingness-to-pay for formal pit emptying with the prices charged by service providers. Through surveys of 942 households and a real-money voucher trial with 646 households, we found that stated and revealed demand for formal emptying services were both low, with less than 20% of households willing to pay full market prices. Our results suggest that improving fecal sludge management in these neighborhoods via the private sector will require large subsides, ranging from 55.1-81.4 million KES (551,000-814,000 USD) annually, to address the gap between willingness-to-pay and market prices. Raising and administering subsidies of this scale will require the development of a city-wide sanitation master plan that includes investment, management, and regulatory procedures for fecal sludge management. In the absence of government investment and coordination, it is unlikely that the private sector will address safe sanitation needs in low-income areas of Kisumu.
Global sustainable development goals call for universal access to safely managed sanitation by 20... more Global sustainable development goals call for universal access to safely managed sanitation by 2030. Here, we demonstrate methods to estimate the financial requirements for meeting this commitment in urban settings of low-income countries. Our methods considered two financial requirements: (i) the subsidies needed to bridge the gap between the willingness-to-pay of low-income households and actual market prices of toilets and emptying services and (ii) the amounts needed to expand the municipal waste management infrastructure for unserved populations. We applied our methods in five cities− Kisumu, Malindi, Nakuru in Kenya; Kumasi in Ghana; and Rangpur in Bangladesh and compared three to five sanitation approaches in each city. We collected detailed cost data on the sanitation infrastructure, products, and services from 76 key informants across the five cities, and we surveyed a total of 2381 low-income households to estimate willingness-to-pay. We found that the total financial requirements for achieving universal sanitation in the next 10 years and their breakdown between household subsidies and municipal infrastructure varied greatly between sanitation approaches. Across our study cities, sewerage was the costliest approach (total financial requirements of 16−24 USD/person/year), followed by container-based sanitation (10−17 USD/person/year), onsite sanitation (2−14 USD/person/year), and mini-sewers connecting several toilets to communal septic tanks (3−5 USD/person/year). Further applications of our methods can guide sanitation planning in other cities.
Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 2020
Most residents of Kisumu, Kenya, use latrines constructed over basic pits or attached to more dur... more Most residents of Kisumu, Kenya, use latrines constructed over basic pits or attached to more durable concrete vaults and septic tanks. Only one-third of fecal sludge generated in the city, however, is safely collected and treated. Programs for improving fecal sludge management among poor households include the development of formal manual emptying organizations that are recognized by local authorities, employ safety procedures, and transport fecal sludge to a treatment site. In this study, we compared the financial structures of these organizations with those of vacuum trucks that primarily serve wealthier households. We also employed an incentives-based strategy to promote the expansion of safe pit-emptying services in a low-income area and compared the performance of three managing groups to coordinate these services: (1) The Association of Wastewater Managers (The Association); (2) a formal manual emptying organization; and (3) a community-based water supplier interested in coor...
In the state of California, groundwater serves 85% of Californians for at least part of their wat... more In the state of California, groundwater serves 85% of Californians for at least part of their water. During the last drought (2011–2016), a high proportion of domestic wells went dry, most of which were located in disadvantaged communities (DACs) in the California Central Valley. Prior to 2014, voluntary groundwater management plans (GMPs) existed as one of the main groundwater governance options. However, little is known about the adoption of these GMPs and their effect on groundwater management. This case study analyzes the adoption of voluntary GMPs statewide and their impact on DACs that primarily rely on groundwater for drinking water. Our analysis shows low adoption of voluntary GMPs (15% for Assembly Bill [AB] 3030 and 12% for Senate Bill [SB] 1938) by local agencies. Even though GMPs were most frequently adopted in the Central Valley, the majority of domestic well shortages and DACs are concentrated there. Furthermore, water agencies, such as irrigation and water districts, ...
Screening for fecal contamination via microbial water quality monitoring is a critical component ... more Screening for fecal contamination via microbial water quality monitoring is a critical component of safe drinking water provision and public health protection. Achieving adequate levels of microbial water quality testing, however, is a challenge in resource-limited settings. One strategy for addressing this challenge is to improve the efficiency of monitoring programs. In African countries, quantitative microbial testing methods are commonly used to monitor chlorinated piped water systems. However, presence/absence (P/A) tests may provide an appropriate alternative for water supplies that generally show negative fecal contamination results. This study compares 1048 water quality test results for samples collected from five African urban water systems. The operators of the systems conducted parallel tests on the 1048 samples using their standard quantitative methods (e.g., most probable number or membrane filtration) and the Colitag™ method in P/A format. Combined data demonstrates a...
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021
Unsafe sanitation is an increasing public health concern for rapidly expanding cities in low-inco... more Unsafe sanitation is an increasing public health concern for rapidly expanding cities in low-income countries. Understanding household demand for improved sanitation infrastructure is critical for planning effective sanitation investments. In this study, we compared the stated and revealed willingness to pay (WTP) for high-quality, pour-flush latrines among households in low-income areas in the city of Nakuru, Kenya. We found that stated WTP for high-quality, pour-flush latrines was much lower than market prices: less than 5% of households were willing to pay the full costs, which we estimated between 87,100–82,900 Kenyan Shillings (KES), or 871–829 USD. In addition, we found large discrepancies between stated and revealed WTP. For example, 90% of households stated that they would be willing to pay a discounted amount of 10,000 KES (100 USD) for a high-quality, pour-flush latrine, but only 10% of households redeemed vouchers at this price point (paid via six installment payments). H...
Most countries maintain regulatory requirements for testing of drinking water supplies to guide t... more Most countries maintain regulatory requirements for testing of drinking water supplies to guide treatment procedures and ensure safe water delivery to consumers. It is unclear, however, if water quality data are always used effectively, particularly in low-resource settings. Efforts to improve the use of water quality data will benefit from a comprehensive understanding of existing systems for managing and sharing information. This study evaluates the methods used to organize, analyze, and transmit drinking water quality data among 26 water supplier or surveillance institutions and two regulatory agencies in six countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Following extensive qualitative and quantitative data collection, we developed data flow diagrams to map formal and informal water quality networks. We found high levels of similarities between the information systems established by different institutions operating under different regulatory structures. We determined that the key barriers to ...
Plastic latrine slabs provide a cleanable surface and a coverable squat hole opening. They are a ... more Plastic latrine slabs provide a cleanable surface and a coverable squat hole opening. They are a simple option for upgrading unimproved pit latrines. To measure consumer demand for plastic slabs in rural areas, we conducted i) a voucher-based real-money sales trial in Tanzania in 2015 (n=569) and ii) a real-money auction in Kenya in 2017 (n=322). In Tanzania, 60% of respondents were willing to pay 1 USD, and only 4% were willing to pay 12 USD (compared to the market price of 18 USD). In Kenya, 93% of respondents were willing to pay 1 USD, with only 1% willing to pay the market price of 16 USD. These findings show that there is demand for plastic slabs but at a lower price than what is commercially available. Amongst households who purchased the plastic slabs, 67% had installed them nine months later in Tanzania, versus 58% ten months later in Kenya.
The Kenyan government estimates that 500 billion KES ($5 billion USD) are needed to achieve sanit... more The Kenyan government estimates that 500 billion KES ($5 billion USD) are needed to achieve sanitation coverage targets in urban areas by 2030. To finance these infrastructure improvements, the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Natural Resources is looking at various financing options, including private sector participation, foreign aid, and cross-subsidies. Using a double-bound dichotomous choice method coupled with qualitative interviews, this study investigated willingness to pay for a pro-poor sanitation surcharge among customers of two Kenyan water utilities. 75% of respondents were willing to pay a surcharge, with just over half willing to pay up to 100 KES ($1 USD) per month. The primary determinants of willingness to pay were trust in the water utility to manage the pro-poor surcharge, feelings of solidarity towards people living without sanitation, and satisfaction with current water services.
Improving sanitation conditions in low-income communities is a major challenge for rapidly growin... more Improving sanitation conditions in low-income communities is a major challenge for rapidly growing cities of the developing world. The expenses and logistical difficulties of extending sewerage infrastructure have focused increasing attention on the requirements for safe and cost-effective fecal sludge management services. These services, which are primarily provided by the private sector, include the collection and treatment of fecal waste from latrine pits and septic tanks. To determine the degree to which market forces can promote safe fecal sludge removal in low-income neighborhoods of Kisumu, Kenya, we compared household willingness-to-pay for formal pit emptying with the prices charged by service providers. Through surveys of 942 households and a real-money voucher trial with 646 households, we found that stated and revealed demand for formal emptying services were both low, with less than 20% of households willing to pay full market prices. Our results suggest that improving fecal sludge management in these neighborhoods via the private sector will require large subsides, ranging from 55.1-81.4 million KES (551,000-814,000 USD) annually, to address the gap between willingness-to-pay and market prices. Raising and administering subsidies of this scale will require the development of a city-wide sanitation master plan that includes investment, management, and regulatory procedures for fecal sludge management. In the absence of government investment and coordination, it is unlikely that the private sector will address safe sanitation needs in low-income areas of Kisumu.
Global sustainable development goals call for universal access to safely managed sanitation by 20... more Global sustainable development goals call for universal access to safely managed sanitation by 2030. Here, we demonstrate methods to estimate the financial requirements for meeting this commitment in urban settings of low-income countries. Our methods considered two financial requirements: (i) the subsidies needed to bridge the gap between the willingness-to-pay of low-income households and actual market prices of toilets and emptying services and (ii) the amounts needed to expand the municipal waste management infrastructure for unserved populations. We applied our methods in five cities− Kisumu, Malindi, Nakuru in Kenya; Kumasi in Ghana; and Rangpur in Bangladesh and compared three to five sanitation approaches in each city. We collected detailed cost data on the sanitation infrastructure, products, and services from 76 key informants across the five cities, and we surveyed a total of 2381 low-income households to estimate willingness-to-pay. We found that the total financial requirements for achieving universal sanitation in the next 10 years and their breakdown between household subsidies and municipal infrastructure varied greatly between sanitation approaches. Across our study cities, sewerage was the costliest approach (total financial requirements of 16−24 USD/person/year), followed by container-based sanitation (10−17 USD/person/year), onsite sanitation (2−14 USD/person/year), and mini-sewers connecting several toilets to communal septic tanks (3−5 USD/person/year). Further applications of our methods can guide sanitation planning in other cities.
Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 2020
Most residents of Kisumu, Kenya, use latrines constructed over basic pits or attached to more dur... more Most residents of Kisumu, Kenya, use latrines constructed over basic pits or attached to more durable concrete vaults and septic tanks. Only one-third of fecal sludge generated in the city, however, is safely collected and treated. Programs for improving fecal sludge management among poor households include the development of formal manual emptying organizations that are recognized by local authorities, employ safety procedures, and transport fecal sludge to a treatment site. In this study, we compared the financial structures of these organizations with those of vacuum trucks that primarily serve wealthier households. We also employed an incentives-based strategy to promote the expansion of safe pit-emptying services in a low-income area and compared the performance of three managing groups to coordinate these services: (1) The Association of Wastewater Managers (The Association); (2) a formal manual emptying organization; and (3) a community-based water supplier interested in coor...
In the state of California, groundwater serves 85% of Californians for at least part of their wat... more In the state of California, groundwater serves 85% of Californians for at least part of their water. During the last drought (2011–2016), a high proportion of domestic wells went dry, most of which were located in disadvantaged communities (DACs) in the California Central Valley. Prior to 2014, voluntary groundwater management plans (GMPs) existed as one of the main groundwater governance options. However, little is known about the adoption of these GMPs and their effect on groundwater management. This case study analyzes the adoption of voluntary GMPs statewide and their impact on DACs that primarily rely on groundwater for drinking water. Our analysis shows low adoption of voluntary GMPs (15% for Assembly Bill [AB] 3030 and 12% for Senate Bill [SB] 1938) by local agencies. Even though GMPs were most frequently adopted in the Central Valley, the majority of domestic well shortages and DACs are concentrated there. Furthermore, water agencies, such as irrigation and water districts, ...
Screening for fecal contamination via microbial water quality monitoring is a critical component ... more Screening for fecal contamination via microbial water quality monitoring is a critical component of safe drinking water provision and public health protection. Achieving adequate levels of microbial water quality testing, however, is a challenge in resource-limited settings. One strategy for addressing this challenge is to improve the efficiency of monitoring programs. In African countries, quantitative microbial testing methods are commonly used to monitor chlorinated piped water systems. However, presence/absence (P/A) tests may provide an appropriate alternative for water supplies that generally show negative fecal contamination results. This study compares 1048 water quality test results for samples collected from five African urban water systems. The operators of the systems conducted parallel tests on the 1048 samples using their standard quantitative methods (e.g., most probable number or membrane filtration) and the Colitag™ method in P/A format. Combined data demonstrates a...
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021
Unsafe sanitation is an increasing public health concern for rapidly expanding cities in low-inco... more Unsafe sanitation is an increasing public health concern for rapidly expanding cities in low-income countries. Understanding household demand for improved sanitation infrastructure is critical for planning effective sanitation investments. In this study, we compared the stated and revealed willingness to pay (WTP) for high-quality, pour-flush latrines among households in low-income areas in the city of Nakuru, Kenya. We found that stated WTP for high-quality, pour-flush latrines was much lower than market prices: less than 5% of households were willing to pay the full costs, which we estimated between 87,100–82,900 Kenyan Shillings (KES), or 871–829 USD. In addition, we found large discrepancies between stated and revealed WTP. For example, 90% of households stated that they would be willing to pay a discounted amount of 10,000 KES (100 USD) for a high-quality, pour-flush latrine, but only 10% of households redeemed vouchers at this price point (paid via six installment payments). H...
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Papers by Clara MacLeod