Effect of Informal Settlements on Water Quality

ABSTRACT Businesses and other informal settlements have said to be the key of polluters of the Kabuthi River. The population pollutes streams of water, especially Kabuthi River by disposing waste into the rivers. This makes the water unsafe for domestic use by the big slums populations that has to buy water for drinking, cooking, washing clothes and feeding animals yet there is a stream that passes by their homes. The settlements include Gachui, Kwanjiku, Mutuini, Kirigu,Mutego and Waithaka among others. The study was also set out to establish the key polluters of Kabuthi River by investigating the activities the river and other mentioned informal settlements where the stream passes. To make this study possible both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data sources included field observations and 150 questionnaires completed by the residents. A total of 16 villages around the streams were selected where interviews were conducted and questionnaires filled through random sampling. Three water samples were taken from River Kabuthi at 1Km interval and tested in the laboratory. Two other waste water samples results were borrowed from study on slaughter houses located in the areas along which the stream flows to establish whether they too contributed to the pollution of urban streams. Data analysis and presentation was undertaken using both general qualitative and quantitative methods. The analysis of samples was undertaken in the Environmental Health Engineering Laboratory at University of Nairobi with additional help by Davis and Shirtliff.