Effect of Household Water-User Preference on the Sustainable Supply of Safe Water in Obunga Slums of Kisumu Municipality, Kenya

Access, availability, and quality of water must be in sustainable supply for humans to become water secure. Sustainable supply of water is ensured through efficient use of water on one hand, and integrated approach to water management on the other hand. The informal settlements, where majority of the urban population lives, are not covered by water connections and prudent water-user preference is necessary to ensure sustainable supply of water. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of water-user preference on the sustainable supply of safe water in Obunga slums, and specific objectives were to assess the household water-user preference, and to determine the effect of household water-user preference of the sustainable supply of water. Ex post facto research design was adopted for the study on a population of 2,507 households divided into four administrative units, Amin’s table and stratified sampling technique were used to select 331 household for questionnaire administration. Test retest and expert consultations were used to ensure reliability and validity respectively. Questionnaire return rate yielded 254 respondents representing 76.7%. It was found that households in Obunga slums have poor water-user preference, and most households have moderate sustainable supply of water. The hypothesis that household water-user preference in the slums is dependent on the sustainable supply of water was therefore accepted. It was concluded that increased water conservation and curtailment behavior ensures water security to households.