Abstract:
This research aimed at assessing the causes and extent of water shortages and coping
mechanisms used by affected residents in Ndera Sector- Kigali City. To achieve this, the study
was guided by the following specific objectives: to analyze the extent of water shortages and
subsequent problems, to identify coping strategies adopted by residents as a result of water
shortages, to assess the community’s perceptions, attitudes and behaviors as a result of water
shortages and finally to find out the response rate from the water service provider in solving
the water shortage problems. This study used 100 respondents drawn from 69,160 population
of Ndera Sector using the Yamane Formula (1990). The researcher employed a survey research
design. Survey concerns describing, recording, analyzing and reporting conditions that exist
or have existed. The basic instruments that were used to collect data were the questionnaire,
interview, documentation and observation. The findings indicate that 100% of the respondents
have faced water shortages, 80% said that water cut-off is not even communicated before as a
result of this, 50% of the respondents ranked water supply service very poor though 60% said
that the situation is better compared to the past 5 years. It was noted that 41% of the respondents
don’t have water storage facilities and 67% don’t know or understand the importance of water
treatment as an alternative during water shortages. The extent of water shortages was
emphasized by respondents whereby 36% highlighted that they spend more than 7 days without
clean water, 55% said that a household uses between 50-100Liters and this is very little
compared to the universal average figures. Respondents suggested that bringing new
machinery and new water pipes, constructing bigger water tanks and digging bore holes where
possible as well as equal distribution of water can solve the problem. Future research should
focus on economic analysis of coping strategies in order to inform decision makers about the
household competing needs. The present study could not establish how the various coping
mechanisms affect household budget. A cost-benefit study on coping strategies is therefore
research gap.
