Development Aspects Impressum Editors

Keywords:

Training
Capacity-building Drinking water supply
Sanitation and environment Small towns
Sub-Saharan Africa Equity, Sustainability

1. Background

The Lake Victoria Region Water and Sanitation Initiative (LVWATSANI) supports the governments of the riparian states to achieve the Millennium Development Goals for water supply and sanitation, with emphasis on innovative solutions and speedy delivery in small towns in the Lake Victoria basin. The LVWATSANI in- cludes infrastructure investments and capacity development. All activities were completed in an initial group of 11 towns in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda with a joint population of about 390,000 and preparations are now under way to start with a second group of 15 towns in an expanding number of riparian countries.

Lake Victoria is the second largest freshwater lake in the world and the larg- est lake in Africa. The Lake catchment provides the livelihood of about one third of the combined populations in the three countries or about 30 million people, of which more than 50 per cent lives below the poverty line. The rapidly growing urban centres in the Lake Victoria basin are playing an increasingly important role in the economic development of the region. Most of these towns are experiencing unplanned growth and this is negatively affecting basic infrastructure, living condi- tions, the environment and the fragile ecosystem of the Lake.
Water-related challenges in the towns around Lake Victoria include recent wa- ter sector reforms that have not yet fully matured, run-down infrastructure where no major investments have been made in the past decades and the lack of recogni- tion for the different needs of women, men, children, minorities and vulnerable groups. The water distribution networks usually cover less than 30 per cent of the urban area and there is a heavy dependence on unsafe water sources causing a high prevalence of water-related diseases. Also, high rates of leakage, high energy and water treatment costs, and low billing and collection ratios form a large con- straint. Sanitation and solid waste management have very low priority as utilities and municipalities struggle to address the problems of water supply (Goodwin, 2010). The LVWATSANI investments in the 11 towns have been largely completed. These included: the rehabilitation of water-supply infrastructure; construction of distribution mains including water meters, valves and water kiosks; the construc-

tion of rainwater tanks; public latrines in schools, institutions and public spaces; the establishment of microcredit facilities for household latrines; the supply of solid waste tractors with trailers and bins; the construction of waste transfer stations; the supply of computers, lab equipment and tools; and some fast-track capacity

-building for water providers.

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