Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
levels are sufficiently low to render zinc unproblematic as an environmental health issue
currently.
Figure 6.7. Levels of coliforms in
groundwater, Epworth.
In the last decade a number of African governments have taken up the challenge of
upgrading already existing squatter settlements (e.g. Kombe, in press). Upgrading is a
locality-based infrastructure improvement strategy, that does not involve resettling people
(Yeh 1987). Instead, such schemes implement on-site improvements in areas that are
already occupied, but that have inadequate or non-existent basic services. Upgrading thus
avoids both the inhumanity (and political consequences) of eviction and clearance and
also the high cost expense of providing new housing. Upgrading is thus inexpensive,
whilst preserving the existing socio-economic network for the urban poor. The alternative
of full-scale slum redevelopment, completely replacing existing structures are re-housing
residents, as carried out in Mumbai, India (Mukhija 2002), whilst having more far-
reaching social benefits, is generally beyond the scale of funding central governments
prefer to provide to peri-urban settlements. Upgrading has taken place in Epworth to a
limited extent, but the growth of the settlement has far outstripped the development of
infrastructure.
As a cost-effective measure to reduce health risk, the local authority could consider
the provision of a limited water supply, via communal taps (already in use in Ward 3 as
shown in Figure 6.8), to be used for drinking purposes only. Residents could then
continue to extract water from wells for other domestic purposes, such as washing. Such
infrastructure provision could be carried out by the state, budget permitting, or through
tripartite public-NGO-private partnerships, which have proved successful in some
informal settlements, such as in Kenya (Otiso 2003). It is also possible for residents to
become private water vendors, whilst providing water of potable quality (Kyessi, in
press).
