Kithiia Justus, Majambo Gamoyo
School for Field Studies, 100 Cummings Center, suite 534g, Beverly, MA 01915, United States of America.
Coastal and Marine Resources Development I Bamburi, 2nd Avenue, Links Road, Nyali, Mombasa, Kenya.
Cities. 2020 Dec;107:102867. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2020.102867. Epub 2020 Aug 22.
Amidst climate change, coastal cities in Africa will face serious water and sanitation problems owing to the predicted flooding of coastal land and saltwater intrusion into freshwater aquifers. For cities such as Mombasa, the problems will be further compounded by high prevalence of informal economies and settlements superimposed on western style governance systems. Yet, right from colonisation to the present day, the water supply and sewage systems have been characterised by a series of inequalities in access. This review paper, discusses the water and sanitation backlogs in the coastal city of Mombasa, tracing them from the colonial times to the post-colonial period. Against this background, we overview the current situation of the water and sanitation sector in the city and discuss possible sustainable interventions. We argue that any analysis of the water and sanitation challenges must consider the motive of the development of the infrastructure during the colonial times. We conclude that sustainable water and sanitation services are likely to remain a mirage unless the issues of funding, cost recovery, data availability and overall governance are fully addressed. A good understanding of both historical inadequacies and current investments would help in designing sustainable interventions going forward.
在气候变化的背景下，由于预计沿海土地会被洪水淹没以及海水入侵淡水含水层，非洲的沿海城市将面临严重的水和卫生问题。对于蒙巴萨这样的城市，非正规经济和定居点的高比例叠加在西式治理体系之上，问题将更加复杂。然而，从殖民时期到如今，供水和污水系统一直存在一系列获取方面的不平等现象。这篇综述论文讨论了沿海城市蒙巴萨的水和卫生积压问题，追溯其从殖民时代到后殖民时期的情况。在此背景下，我们概述了该市水和卫生部门的现状，并讨论了可能的可持续干预措施。我们认为，对水和卫生挑战的任何分析都必须考虑殖民时期基础设施发展的动机。我们得出结论，除非资金、成本回收、数据可用性和整体治理等问题得到充分解决，否则可持续的水和卫生服务可能仍只是海市蜃楼。深入了解历史上的不足和当前的投资情况将有助于设计未来的可持续干预措施。
