...The challenge of managing national water resources and maximising the availability of potable water to the majority of Kenyans has tasked successive governments since Independence.In the early seventies, an ambitious water master plan was launched to ensure availability of water to all households by the year 2000. But the approach of taking over water supplies previously managed by communities, local authorities and public institutions was found to be unsustainable since the Government lacked the resources to directly finance or subsidize these services.By the eighties it was clear that the government could not, on its own, deliver water to all Kenyans by 2000. The focus then shifted to handing over a process of finding ways of involving others in the provision of water services in place of the government. Through this process, provision of basic services including water and sanitation, education and health could be achieved by involving beneficiaries through cost-sharing.

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