A/HRC/30/39/Add.2 to address all health concerns12 — setting a clear minimum target is itself a positive step. With regard to its implementation, however, one study shows that 57 per cent of lowincome households consume less than 20 litres per person per day.13 47. In terms of the availability of water resources, Kenya is a water-scarce country with less than 1,000 cubic metres of water available per capita. According to estimates in some studies, unless water supply increases as rapidly as the population grows, water availability in Kenya may drop down to 235 cubic metres per capita by 2025,14 far below an absolute water scarcity line of 500 cubic metres per capita. The population of Kenya is steadily growing, and so do water demands. Water scarcity is also caused by poor water supply management, water contamination and increasing droughts and floods exacerbated by climate change. 48. To address the scarcity of water resources, public utilities regularly ration their water supply. As a consequence, the supply is unreliable. According to a study conducted by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, approximately 50 per cent of households have an unreliable water supply.15 Since most small-scale water providers rely on piped water, their supply is also unreliable. Given the unreliable provision through piped connection by utilities, people tend to store excessive amounts of water, which in turn increases water demand against the intention of utilities to ration water consumption. The rationing of water through intermittent supply is therefore a false economy, as it invariably leads to increased losses. 49. Kenya must clearly prioritize available water resources for personal and domestic uses and allocate water in a transparent and participatory way over competing demands of water. Under the ongoing water sector reforms, the Water Act of 2002 and the National Water Resources Management Strategy define priority allocation of water for personal and domestic uses. Any plans for river basin or water resources management must reflect the obligations stemming from the human rights to water and sanitation. Equally, planning for resilience to climate change is essential for the protection of water resources, and requires careful consideration of how water can safely be reused in domestic, agricultural and industrial contexts. There is an additional need to adopt regulations aimed at giving “prioritization” and “availability” a practical definition by assigning standard numerical values to the minimum desired quantity and continuity of water and sanitation supply. To set these minimum standards, Kenya can use international research as guidance, while always taking into account people’s particular needs and continuing to progressively increase minimum standards. 50. The Government itself stated in the Kenya National Water Development Report of 2006 that water resources had been mismanaged through laws, policies and institutions that did not take into consideration sustainable use of water and land, through weak practices of water allocation, through increased pollution and through degradation of surface-water resources. Kenya is not an exception among the countries in the region whose water resources are negatively affected by climate change. It is therefore even more important to set up a system to continuously monitor and evaluate the availability of water resources. It is also critical to strengthen the enforcement of relevant laws on illegal usages of precious water resources. 12 13 14 15 12 Guy Howard and Jamie Bartram, “Domestic water quantity, service level and health” (WHO, 2003). Available from www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases/WSH03.02.pdf. See UNDP, “Small-scale water providers”, p. 4. See Kenya, Kenya Vision 2030: First Medium Term Plan 2008–2012, p. 107. Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, The Third State of Human Rights Report: A Human Rights Assessment of Kenya Vision 2030 (January 2008–June 2010) (2011), p. 86.