Compound challenges of water insecurity, sanitation, and flooding in informal and formal settlements of Nairobi, Kenya
In many rapidly growing cities across Sub-Saharan Africa, residents – especially those living in informal settlements – face multiple challenges from limited access to safe and reliable drinking water, poor sanitation, and recurring flooding. Water insecurity – too much, too little, or too dirty water – affects health, well-being, and people’s ability to work, study, or care for their families. When water shortages, unsafe sanitation, and flooding occur together, they create overlapping problems that make daily life even more challenging, increase the risk of disease, and impair social, emotional, and mental well-being. These combined pressures can trigger a downward spiral in which poor health, reduced income, and higher vulnerability reinforce each other over time.
In our ongoing research in Nairobi, Kenya (EU-Horizon funded project WISER), we have collected a unique dataset that allows us to study these challenges in detail through spatial and non-spatial, qualitative and quantitative data, individual, collective and community perspectives. It includes:
- a household survey with internationally established scales on water insecurity (HWISE), sanitation-related quality of life (SanQoL), and well-being (PWI-A, WHOQOL-BREF), conducted among 545 households in formal and informal settlements
- spatial information on household locations of survey participants, drinking water sources, housing materials and conditions, flood exposure etc.
- focus group discussions with residents of different ages and genders in both formal and informal settlements
Our exploratory spatial analysis shows that compound challenges related to water insecurity, sanitation, and flooding vary not only between formal and informal settlement areas, but also strongly within them. These patterns suggest clusters of households facing multiple, overlapping challenges—but more work is needed to understand why these clusters occur and how they can be identified in a systematic way.
An MSc project can build on this dataset and extend the spatial analysis. Depending on interest, the student could focus on:
- Developing a method to map where water insecurity, sanitation problems, and flood exposure overlap, using the existing georeferenced survey data.
- Explore how spatial factors (such as proximity to rivers, elevation, housing density, waste accumulation) may influence why some households are more affected than others.
- Assess how these challenges cluster differently in formal versus informal settlements and what this means for local planning and policy.
This project offers:
- a rich mixed-methods dataset combining survey results, geospatial data, and focus group insights;
- an opportunity to develop practical spatial analysis and mapping skills;
- a chance to work within an interdisciplinary and international research team
- scope for publication and policy-relevant outputs.
- Foellmer, J., Musyoka, D., Owaga, D., Bockarjova, M., Janeka, P., Kabaria, C., & Anthonj, C. (2025). The effect of water (in)security on perceived well-being and productivity growth in urban populations of Nairobi, Kenya. [Project deliverable]. WISER. https://tinyurl.com/bdk27twm
- Sharma, S., Das, A., & Bhattacharya, S. P. (2025). Strengthening WASH resilience in flood-affected urban poor communities: Insights from Patna. Cities, 159, 105758. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2025.105758
- Fleming, L., Anthonj, C., Thakkar, M. B., Tikoisuva, W. M., Manga, M., Howard, G., Shields, K. F., Kelly, E., Overmars, M., & Bartram, J. (2019). Urban and rural sanitation in the Solomon Islands: How resilient are these to extreme weather events? Science of The Total Environment, 683, 331–340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.253