River ContraQt: Co-Designing a River Contract Approach to Enhance Water Quality in the Sondu Miriu River, Kenya

Summary

Water quality across Kenya is poor. Main drivers are limited sanitation, open sewers, use of fertiliser, and soil erosion. Water infrastructure cannot keep up with the rapidly growing population. The Kenyan government recognises the problem of water pollution, and has setup laws, policies and institutions. Water management responsibilities are legally devolved from the central government to subnational and local level. Yet, poor governance, capacity, and data constraints are main hurdles to effective water management. In this project, we will improve the governance of water management at the local level, in cooperation with the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation, by means of a river contract approach, while also consolidating the socioeconomic and bio-physical evidence base of water pollution and its solutions. A river contract approach is a voluntary agreement between local authorities and citizens as a form of negotiated and shared planning procedure.

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