IMPLEMENTING COMMERCIALIZATION OF WATER IN KENYA

Up to around the 1970s,it was unthinkable to buy and sell water for household use in Kenya.However global trends entailing liberalization and privatization beginning the 1980s made water a tradable commodity.The problem is that commercialization of water discriminates household demand by affecting households differentially relative to social and economic contexts.It is against this backdrop that this study was conceived.Commercialization of water has financial implications.This means that by trading water in the market place, only the willing buyer with the requisite purchasing power will acess the resource.A category of households are likely to be excluded from the formal water delivery system or inclined to structural adjustments to cope in a profit oriented water market.This not withstanding, some households are likely to be made better off interms of improved living standards and enhanced opportunities.This study seeks to explore the effects on household demand.It brings out the social dimensions of the problem.It engenders both theoretical and practical significance to scholars,researchers,policy makers and water consumers.