A/HRC/30/39/Add.2 III. Human rights to water and sanitation A. Access to water 23. The human right to water requires that the water supply for each person be sufficient and continuous for personal and domestic uses. 3 24. As at 2012, 62 per cent of the Kenyan population enjoyed access to improved water sources. When breaking down this figure, significant inequalities are revealed between formal and informal settlements, and across wealth quintiles and rural and urban areas. While 82 per cent of people in urban areas have access to improved water sources, including nearly 60 per cent who have piped water on the premises, only 55 per cent of people in rural areas have access to improved water sources. During her mission, the Special Rapporteur visited several informal settlements where the residents’ only option for access to water was to buy water from kiosks. Inequalities also exist within informal settlements; in such settlements in Mombasa, for instance, the vast majority of the poorest rely on water kiosks, while some of the richest inside the settlements have access to piped water. 25. Even when they have access to improved water sources, people make 7 to 28 trips to the water source per week.4 For the majority of Kenyans, a significant part of daily life is still absorbed by collecting drinking water. In a survey carried out in multiple informal settlements, for instance, 40 per cent of households listed access to water as the most desired improvement in living conditions.5 26. Water quality standards in Kenya follow the guidelines provided by the World Health Organization. The Water Services Regulatory Board monitors and reports on the chlorine level and bacteriological quality of water provided by water service providers as part of its performance evaluation. The Ministry of Health also has responsibilities regarding water quality and carries out water quality surveillance in a number of districts. Water provision by vendors and tanker trucks introduces additional risks of contamination even when water is bought from the formal water service providers. The Special Rapporteur was informed that water quality monitoring for informal and small-scale provision, either by government actors or by users, is not routine and is insufficient. B. Access to sanitation 27. Only 30 per cent of the population has access to improved sanitation: 31 per cent in urban areas and 29 percent in rural areas. At the current rate, Kenya would reach the target on sanitation of the Millennium Development Goals only in 2090, 75 years after the deadline. An estimated 13 per cent of the national population practises open defecation. When disaggregating the data by wealth quintiles, it becomes clear that open defecation is mostly practised among those in the lowest wealth category. The rate of access to sanitation also varies enormously between counties: the rate of open defecation is 82.1 per cent in Turkana and 0.2 per cent in Nyandarua, for instance.6 3 4 5 6 See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 15 (2002) on the right to water, para. 12 (a). See United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), “Small-scale water providers in Kenya: pioneers or predators?” (2011), p. 26. Ibid. Kenya, Ministry of Health, and the Water and Sanitation Program, County Sanitation Profiles. 7