Fighting the Water Mafia with Pipes in the Sky

Published: Oct. 9, 2018, 2:06 a.m.

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In Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya\\u2019s capital Nairobi, access to water is a minefield. The marketplace is dominated by water cartels, or mafias - water is often syphoned off from the mains supply and pumped in through dirty hosepipes.

But Kennedy Odede is trying to change that. Dubbed the \\u2018president of the poor\\u2019, he set up a scheme to pump water up from a borehole deep underground, and deliver it through a new network of pipes with a difference. To avoid contamination, and keep them safe from the cartels, Kennedy\\u2019s pipes are suspended 15m in the air on a series of poles that carry them around the slum.

In this episode of World Hacks we travel to Kibera to meet Kennedy, see the aerial waterways in action, and ask if his scheme can expand to help people living in slums across the globe.

Presenter: Dougal Shaw\\nReporter: Sam Judah\\nProducer: Sam Judah for the BBC World Service

Photo Caption: Kennedy Odede\\nPhoto Credit: BBC

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