Sigh of relief for Mukuru residents after connection to low-cost sewer system
Nairobi
By
Brian Ngugi
| Oct 21, 2025
More than 80,000 residents of Nairobi's Mukuru informal settlement are now connected to a new, low-cost sewer system, Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company has said.
The city's water utility on Tuesday said this is a major step towards improving sanitation in one of the country’s most densely populated areas.
According to the company’s Acting Managing Director Martin Nang'ole, the new simplified sewer system uses smaller, flexible pipes laid at shallower depths than conventional sewers, which significantly reduced installation costs and made it easier for households to connect.
Mr Nang’ole said the project, developed with non-profit Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor and the state-run Athi Water Works Development Agency, is part of a broader push to extend sanitation coverage in Nairobi's low-income neighbourhoods.
"For many years, informal settlements have lagged in access to reliable sanitation," he said in a statement to newsrooms.
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He added, "The simplified sewer technology allows us to serve more people at lower cost, using locally available materials and labour. This is what practical innovation for public good looks like."
Kenya is urbanising at a rate of 4.5 per cent a year, one of the fastest in Africa. Informal settlements, which occupy just 2.6 per cent of Nairobi's land, are home to about 60 per cent of the country’s population, straining basic services like water and sanitation.
Before the new system, most Mukuru residents relied on shared pit latrines or toilets that channelled waste through open drains to a nearby river.
The utility said the new service costs residents Sh20 per month, compared to the Sh10 they paid per use of a public latrine - a cost that could total Sh1,200 monthly for a family of four.
The system includes inspection chambers every 30 metres to aid maintenance. NCWSC is working with community-based organisations, which are being trained to manage and maintain parts of the system to ensure its long-term sustainability.
"Residents now enjoy cleaner surroundings, reduced exposure to disease, and a stronger sense of dignity," Nang'ole said.
The project comes as global bodies advocate for a radical market-based approach to sanitation. Dominic O'Neill, Executive Director of the UN's Sanitation and Hygiene Fund (SHF), recently told The Standard that traditional models of financing large, centralised sewer systems have failed, leaving 3.5 billion people globally without safe sanitation.
"Business as usual clearly was not working," O'Neill said. "Sanitation is not just a public good. It's an economy. It's a service. It's an asset."
This shift is critical in Kenya, where government estimates show 60 percent of the population, or about 30 million people, will never be connected to a sewer line. For these millions, the lack of safe sanitation perpetuates a cycle of disease and poverty, with contaminated water spreading illnesses like cholera and typhoid.
The SHF is now pushing for a pivot towards decentralised, non-sewered technologies, a category that includes the simplified system in Mukuru. The fund's strategy involves catalysing local capital by de-risking the sector for Kenyan banks and pension funds, helping to build a "sanitation economy" that could mirror the off-grid solar revolution.