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A Case Study on Water Supply Access and Demand Using Descriptive Statistical Methods

Received: 13 April 2016     Accepted: 15 April 2016     Published: 21 October 2016
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Abstract

Of the various natural resources necessary for human survival and good health, provision of adequate water supply is a major challenge to many municipalities not only in Kenya but Africa as a whole. In 2000, an estimated one-sixth of the world’s population was without access to improved water supply with the majority of these people living in Asia and Africa. This study reports a cross-sectional survey that sought to establish the water supply situation among households living in the high, middle and low income areas within the municipality of Naivasha in Kenya. Data from a random sample of 385 households was obtained from the residential areas with secondary and primary data obtained from the Naivasha Water and Sanitation Company. Primary data was collected on water access, alternative water sources, water quality, per capita water use and cost of water. The data were collected using questionnaires, scheduled interviews, and observations and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Our results indicated that only 63% of respondents used improved sources of water. Further, there was no significant difference between the amounts of water used per person per day across the three income levels. Water demand in Naivasha outstrips supply and people resort to using boreholes which have more reliable supply. The study showed that the respondents were able to access water as per the minimum required quantities postulated by the WHO guidelines. However, the middle and low income groups spend more than the stipulated proportions of their income on water. There was no significant difference between the water used by households across the income levels. The usage was significant depending on the number of household members and the amount of household activities that require water use per day. Households that could not afford their water requirements forced them to reduce water usage thereby compromising hygiene. This study shows that access to safe water still remains a challenge and the overall achievement of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion without access to safe water may be hampered by challenges of urbanization and rapid population growth. It is recommended that more effort be made to increase access to safe water to mitigate the various inequalities described here and to reduce incidences of water related diseases.

Published in American Journal of Biological and Environmental Statistics (Volume 2, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajbes.20160202.11
Page(s) 7-12
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Water Access, Water Demand, Per Capita Water Access, Cost of Water

References
[1] Government of Kenya (2007). The National Water Services Strategy. Ministry of Water and Irrigation Nairobi, Kenya.
[2] Kundzewicz, Z. W.; Mata, L. J.; Arnell, N. W.; Doll, P.; Kabat, P.; Jimenez, B.; Miller, K. A.; Oki, T.; Shen, Z. and Shiklomanov, I. A. (2007). Fresh water resources and their management. Climate change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. M. L. Parry, O. F. Canziani, J. P. Palutikof, P. J. van der Linden, and C. E Hanson, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 173-210.
[3] Lenntech Water Treatment and Purification Holding B. V. (2009). Water Treatment and Purification. Rotterdam 402M2629, Delft,Holland.http://www.lenntech.com/water-food-agriculture.htm. Retrieved 23/07/2010.
[4] Maurya, V. N.; Arora, Diwinder Kaur; Maurya, Avadhesh Kumar and Gautam, R. A. (2013). Exact modeling of annual maximum rainfall with Gumbel and Frechet distributions using parameter estimation techniques, World of Sciences Journal, Engineers Press Publishing, Vienna, Austria, 1(2), pp.11-26, ISSN: 2307-3071.
[5] Maurya, V. N.; Jaggi, C. K.; Vashist, S.; Ogubazghi, G.; Varshney, D. K.; Maurya, A. K. and Arora, D. K. (2015). Impact of some significant factors for intern’s job satisfaction and performance using t-test and ANOVA method, American Journal of Biological and Environmental Statistics, Science Publishing Group, USA, 1(1), pp. 19-26.
[6] Maurya, V. N.; Singh, B.; Vashist, S.; Ogubazghi, G.and Singh V. V. (2015). Effectiveness performance analysis of soil minerals (Fe/Zn) on soil fertility and cropping patterns using X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (XRF) and ANOVA method, American Journal of Biological and Environmental Statistics, Science Publishing Group, USA, 1(1), pp. 9-18.
[7] Maurya, V. N.; Singh, Bijay; Reddy, N.; Singh, V. V.; Maurya, A. K.; Arora, D. K. (2014). Cost-effective perspective and scenario development on economic optimization for multiple-use dry-season water resource management, American Open Journal of Agricultural Research, Academic & Scientific Publishing, New York, USA. 2 (1), pp. 1-21, ISSN: 2333-2131.
[8] UNDP (2011). Small Scale Water Providers in Kenya: Pioneers or Predators. United Nations Development Programme. 1, United Nations Plaza, New York, USA.
[9] USAID and WSUP (2011). African Cities for the Future. Annual Report No. 1. October 2009 to September 2010. Nairobi, Kenya.
[10] WHO and UNICEF (2000). Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 Report. UNICEF, 633 Third Avenue, New York, USA, Water, Sanitation and Health, WHO, Geneva.
[11] WHO and UNICEF (2010). Progress on Sanitation and Drinking Water, 2010 Update. UNICEF, 633 Third Avenue, New York, USA, Water, Sanitation and Health, WHO, Geneva.
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  • APA Style

    Vishwa Nath Maurya, Ram Bilas Misra, Peter K. Anderson, Swammy Vashist. (2016). A Case Study on Water Supply Access and Demand Using Descriptive Statistical Methods. American Journal of Biological and Environmental Statistics, 2(2), 7-12. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbes.20160202.11

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    ACS Style

    Vishwa Nath Maurya; Ram Bilas Misra; Peter K. Anderson; Swammy Vashist. A Case Study on Water Supply Access and Demand Using Descriptive Statistical Methods. Am. J. Biol. Environ. Stat. 2016, 2(2), 7-12. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbes.20160202.11

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    AMA Style

    Vishwa Nath Maurya, Ram Bilas Misra, Peter K. Anderson, Swammy Vashist. A Case Study on Water Supply Access and Demand Using Descriptive Statistical Methods. Am J Biol Environ Stat. 2016;2(2):7-12. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbes.20160202.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajbes.20160202.11,
      author = {Vishwa Nath Maurya and Ram Bilas Misra and Peter K. Anderson and Swammy Vashist},
      title = {A Case Study on Water Supply Access and Demand Using Descriptive Statistical Methods},
      journal = {American Journal of Biological and Environmental Statistics},
      volume = {2},
      number = {2},
      pages = {7-12},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajbes.20160202.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbes.20160202.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajbes.20160202.11},
      abstract = {Of the various natural resources necessary for human survival and good health, provision of adequate water supply is a major challenge to many municipalities not only in Kenya but Africa as a whole. In 2000, an estimated one-sixth of the world’s population was without access to improved water supply with the majority of these people living in Asia and Africa. This study reports a cross-sectional survey that sought to establish the water supply situation among households living in the high, middle and low income areas within the municipality of Naivasha in Kenya. Data from a random sample of 385 households was obtained from the residential areas with secondary and primary data obtained from the Naivasha Water and Sanitation Company. Primary data was collected on water access, alternative water sources, water quality, per capita water use and cost of water. The data were collected using questionnaires, scheduled interviews, and observations and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Our results indicated that only 63% of respondents used improved sources of water. Further, there was no significant difference between the amounts of water used per person per day across the three income levels. Water demand in Naivasha outstrips supply and people resort to using boreholes which have more reliable supply. The study showed that the respondents were able to access water as per the minimum required quantities postulated by the WHO guidelines. However, the middle and low income groups spend more than the stipulated proportions of their income on water. There was no significant difference between the water used by households across the income levels. The usage was significant depending on the number of household members and the amount of household activities that require water use per day. Households that could not afford their water requirements forced them to reduce water usage thereby compromising hygiene. This study shows that access to safe water still remains a challenge and the overall achievement of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion without access to safe water may be hampered by challenges of urbanization and rapid population growth. It is recommended that more effort be made to increase access to safe water to mitigate the various inequalities described here and to reduce incidences of water related diseases.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - A Case Study on Water Supply Access and Demand Using Descriptive Statistical Methods
    AU  - Vishwa Nath Maurya
    AU  - Ram Bilas Misra
    AU  - Peter K. Anderson
    AU  - Swammy Vashist
    Y1  - 2016/10/21
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbes.20160202.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajbes.20160202.11
    T2  - American Journal of Biological and Environmental Statistics
    JF  - American Journal of Biological and Environmental Statistics
    JO  - American Journal of Biological and Environmental Statistics
    SP  - 7
    EP  - 12
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2471-979X
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbes.20160202.11
    AB  - Of the various natural resources necessary for human survival and good health, provision of adequate water supply is a major challenge to many municipalities not only in Kenya but Africa as a whole. In 2000, an estimated one-sixth of the world’s population was without access to improved water supply with the majority of these people living in Asia and Africa. This study reports a cross-sectional survey that sought to establish the water supply situation among households living in the high, middle and low income areas within the municipality of Naivasha in Kenya. Data from a random sample of 385 households was obtained from the residential areas with secondary and primary data obtained from the Naivasha Water and Sanitation Company. Primary data was collected on water access, alternative water sources, water quality, per capita water use and cost of water. The data were collected using questionnaires, scheduled interviews, and observations and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Our results indicated that only 63% of respondents used improved sources of water. Further, there was no significant difference between the amounts of water used per person per day across the three income levels. Water demand in Naivasha outstrips supply and people resort to using boreholes which have more reliable supply. The study showed that the respondents were able to access water as per the minimum required quantities postulated by the WHO guidelines. However, the middle and low income groups spend more than the stipulated proportions of their income on water. There was no significant difference between the water used by households across the income levels. The usage was significant depending on the number of household members and the amount of household activities that require water use per day. Households that could not afford their water requirements forced them to reduce water usage thereby compromising hygiene. This study shows that access to safe water still remains a challenge and the overall achievement of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion without access to safe water may be hampered by challenges of urbanization and rapid population growth. It is recommended that more effort be made to increase access to safe water to mitigate the various inequalities described here and to reduce incidences of water related diseases.
    VL  - 2
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, School of Science & Technology, The University of Fiji, Lautoka, Fiji Islands

  • Department of Mathematics & Computing Science, Divine Word University, Madang, Papua New Guinea

  • Department of Information System and Dept. of Mathematics & Computing Science, Divine Word University, Madang, Papua New Guinea

  • Department of Accounting & Finance, College of Business and Economics, Dilla University, Dilla, Ethiopia

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