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For World Water Day 2021, we invited Mutono Nyamai, PhD candidate at the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies University of Nairobi (Kenya), to discuss her research published with our partner platform, AAS Open Research. Here, Mutono shares the motivations behind her research and the importance of open research in this area.

My name is Mutono Nyamai, and I am a PhD candidate at the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies University of Nairobi, while also completing a second Master’s degree in data science at the University of Glasgow (UK). In addition, I hold the positions of Research Fellow at the Centre for Epidemiological and Modelling Analysis at the University of Nairobi, and at the Washington State University Global Health program in Kenya.

My PhD research is focused on piped water distribution and access in urban settings, and how this is associated with health outcomes. I use data from Nairobi City in Kenya as a representative of urban cities in developing economies where there is rapid urbanisation at a rate faster than the growth of infrastructure. The result of that is urban populations that live across a wide range of economic strata, and whose access to basic amenities differs across these strata. Using longitudinal data on piped water supply and distribution across the city, population sizes and distribution from 1985 to date, as well as health data on waterborne diseases, I research water distribution equity, detection of hotspots of waterborne diseases in the city, making projections of water demand and supply as the city continues to grow. I would like this work to be useful during development of policies aimed at improving access to clean water and sanitation for Africa’s urbanising population. For this PhD, I have focused on developing skills to improve the quality and speed of decision-making in public health through the use of data.

What inspired you to investigate drinking water? 

Living in a rapidly urbanising city, I observed an increasing demand in vended water in many of the estates in Nairobi. This is partly because the water infrastructure has not been able to complement the growth in population. Similarly, reports on waterborne diseases have become relatively common in Nairobi. Inspired by the works of Nobel Laureate, Professor Wangari Maathai, as well as the discovery that her ideas were being institutionalized at the University of Nairobi, I was drawn to study there and focus on what I think is an important topic – the  nexus between safe water supply and health outcomes for urbanising populations.

What challenges have you had to overcome in conducting your research? 

Policies should be informed by evidence drawn from data. Over the years, data has either been poorly collected, restricted in access or completely unavailable, making it challenging to investigate spatial and temporal patterns of water supply and health. I have been fortunate to see institutions and parastatals moving to system-based data collection and storage practices, increasingly willing to grant access to data for research purposes. This has enabled me to understand the water access and distribution patterns in Nairobi, which can infer decisions for a rapidly urbanising city. I am hopeful that quality data access will improve in the future as we are moving to the age of data driven decisions.

What impact do you feel your research has or could have on the overall goal of achieving safe water and sanitation?

By 2050, it is estimated that more than half of the population in Africa will be residing in urban areas. Unless we are smart about it, we run the risk of large sections of the urban community living without access to clean water and sanitation – goal 6 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and aspiration 1.10 of the African Union Agenda 2063 on the provision of the basic necessities of life to all in the African continent. My research identifies inequities on water sufficiency across socio-economic strata, identifies the hotspots of water borne diseases and provides forecasting data useful for planning. These kinds of insights from data allow for targeted interventions that improve living conditions and public health of urban populations.

What is the next step for your research? What are you interested in exploring next?

I would like to research interventions that use data-driven approaches to reduce inequitable water access and consumption and their impact on the burden of waterborne diseases in rapidly urbanising areas. This will contribute to the Agenda 2063 Pan African vision of an integrated, productive and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the international arena.

When researching drinking water and sanitation, what role does open research have in advancing the field?

Open research makes the peer review process transparent, from the first draft to the final publication, allowing the reader a view of how the research has improved through the peer-review process. With open research, the work can be immediately available, cutting down the time between when research is completed and when the research findings are available to potential users of these findings. Coupled with open access, open research makes research more readily accessible and transparent. My research focuses on the African continent and AAS Open Research allows public engagement throughout the process of the article.

Finally, do you have any additional comments you would like to add around World Water Day and the importance of research in this area?

Safe water is a basic human right and every country should provide its population with water that is reliable, safe and affordable. I believe that in celebrating World Water Day, we will be reminded of this important resource and ensure we leave no one behind in realizing a prosperous Africa that is based on inclusive growth and sustainable development.

Read Mutono’s Study Protocol, ‘The nexus between improved water supply and water-borne diseases in urban areas in Africa: a scoping review protocol’ via AAS Open Research >>

Also for World Water Day, we invited Anita Etale from the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa) to discuss her research using nano-sized cellulose for treatment of mining-contaminated water.

Read the full interview here >>