Western Kenya is seeing a surge of spending and community action to expand safe drinking water, even as outbreaks of waterborne disease underline the region’s vulnerability.
In Kisumu County, officials confirmed a multibillion shilling upgrade that aims to transform supply and sanitation for the lakeside city and nearby Maseno. The KSh 10.6 billion package, financed under the Lake Victoria West Water and Sanitation programme, will expand treatment capacity, extend networks, and tackle non-revenue water that leaks from old pipes. County briefings and local press reports describe a plan to modernise service across urban and peri-urban neighbourhoods, with new equipment already handed to the utility. (Kisumu County, city.kisumu.go.ke, The Star)
Smaller but significant projects are advancing in Kakamega County. Local authorities say more than 8,000 households are set to gain clean, reliable water through a newly launched phase of works. In Kisa East Ward, a community scheme will connect at least 1,000 households, part of a push that mixes county funds with donor and NGO support. (Kenya News)
Those bricks-and-mortar investments are arriving alongside targeted partnerships meant to protect rural sources. Kakamega’s Department of Water has teamed up with The Water Project to drill a minimum of 40 boreholes and safeguard over 60 springs in the county. The work focuses on villages that still rely on unprotected sources, where contamination risk is highest during the rains. (The Water Project)
Development agencies remain deeply embedded across the region’s water and sanitation landscape. USAID’s Western Kenya Water Project is working with county governments, water service providers, and water resource user associations to expand basic services, improve quality, and strengthen catchment management. A companion sanitation program is building out faecal sludge management markets and household-level hygiene solutions across eight counties that ring Lake Victoria and the surrounding highlands. (Globalwaters.org, Kisumu County)
The European Investment Bank reports that its financing is also extending pipes and overhauling sewers in Kisumu, part of a longer effort to reduce raw sewage flows that threaten both Lake Victoria and neighbourhood health. Bank officials say the works are still underway, with the goal of increasing coverage in informal settlements that have historically been left out of city systems. (European Investment Bank)
Public health signals show why speed matters. Kenya’s Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation recorded a cholera outbreak earlier this year, with active transmission in Kisumu and neighbouring counties during the long rains. Health authorities pointed to contaminated water and poor sanitation as key drivers. County officials in Kisumu warned in March that open defecation and unsafe sources were fuelling diarrhoeal disease, urging rapid construction of pit latrines and improved hygiene. (WHO | Regional Office for Africa, Kenya News)
Funding stability is an emerging worry. Investigations this year detailed disruptions to water and sanitation projects after sharp reductions in United States aid, which has historically underpinned WASH programmes in Kenya and across the region. While some life-saving funding has been partially restored, many initiatives remain in limbo, according to reporting that highlighted stalled works in several countries, including Kenya. Local leaders and aid groups warn that prolonged uncertainty could slow progress on safe water access unless alternative financing fills the gap. (Reuters, Financial Times)
What safer access looks like on the ground
Western Kenya’s water picture is a patchwork. Urban cores like Kisumu City are gradually adding treatment capacity and closing service gaps. EIB-backed and LVWATSAN-backed works are designed to push more piped, treated water into dense neighbourhoods and to reduce sewer overflows that contaminate shallow sources. County leaders say new non-revenue water tools will help utilities keep more water in the system by fixing leaks and illegal connections. (The Star, European Investment Bank)
In rural wards, the most immediate gains often come from spring protection, boreholes with hand pumps, and gravity schemes. The Water Project collaboration in Kakamega, for example, targets exactly those interventions, which can be completed faster than large plants and can be maintained by trained community committees. County-level projects in Kisa East and elsewhere mirror that approach, extending simple piped networks to clusters of homes and public facilities. (The Water Project, Kenya News)
USAID’s water and sanitation programmes in the west are trying to ensure those pieces add up to durable service. Documents describe goals to bring first-time basic drinking water to hundreds of thousands of residents, improve service quality for many more, and strengthen catchment protection so dry-season flows remain reliable. The sanitation track aims to expand private-sector desludging services and affordable household toilets, which reduces groundwater contamination and disease risk. (Globalwaters.org, Kisumu County)
The outlook
The near-term trajectory is mixed but trending positive. On one side, Kisumu’s large investment package and Kakamega’s community schemes show momentum. On the other hand, cholera spikes during the rains, flood-related contamination, and donor volatility threaten to erode gains if not countered by steady financing and stronger sanitation coverage. (Kisumu County, WHO | Regional Office for Africa)
Public health experts say the fastest wins come when counties pair network expansion with low-cost protection of wells and springs, consistent chlorine residuals at taps, and routine water quality surveillance that is publicly reported. With Lake Victoria at the heart of regional livelihoods, the stakes are high. The projects now moving from paper to trenches could decide whether households in Kisumu, Kakamega, Busia, Bungoma, Siaya, Homa Bay, Migori, and Kisii can count on safe water through the next rainy season and beyond. (European Investment Bank, Globalwaters.org)
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