U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission for Kenya Isiah Parnell visited a community using a public prepaid water meter in the informal settlement of Mzee Makuti. 

The meter, which dispenses water upon insertion of a pre-paid token, is one of 95 such meters installed in ten low-income settlements in Nakuru by the Nakuru Water and Sanitation Services Company (NAWASSCO) with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Sustainable Water and Sanitation for Africa (SUWASA) project.  In Nakuru, an estimated 250,000 people live in large-scale informal settlements like Mzee Makuti, relying on vendors to bring them 20-liter jerry cans of water for an average 6.3 Kenyan shillings.  For an average household of five in Kenya, the weekly water routine involves buying and carrying more than 17 cans of water; each of those cans weighs up to 40 pounds.
USAID introduced an effective model of service provision to the Nakuru water utility and county water ministry, and facilitated innovative commercial financing through Family Bank.  Together, USAID, the national Water Services Trust Fund (WSTF), the local utility Nakuru Water and Sanitation Services Company (NAWASSCO) and Family Bank provided financing worth about $210,000—just over half provided by USAID—to  pilot the use of pre-paid water meters.  This simple but sophisticated technology allows people to take as much safe, clean water as they are able to pay for in advance, on a time schedule that is convenient for them.

“The modest investment that USAID made in the Nakuru pre-paid water meter pilot has helped NAWASSCO to develop a 5-year pro-poor strategy to install 1,250 prepaid meters in 43 low income neighborhoods in Nakuru using commercially available financing,” said Parnell.

At present, more than 13,000 people in low income areas are getting water from pre-paid meters.

USAID is the U.S. government agency responsible for administering civilian foreign aid.