Socio-Institutional Drivers of Groundwater Contamination Hazards: The Case of On-Site Sanitation in the Bwaise Informal Settlement, Kampala, Uganda

This is a research article which contributes to the development of a socio-institutional assessment framework based on a case study of contamination by on-site sanitation (OSS) in an informal settlement of Bwaise (Kampala, Uganda).Socio-institutional factors are poorly addressed in the risk assessment of groundwater contamination. This paper contributes to the development of a socio-institutional assessment framework based on a case study of contamination by on-site sanitation (OSS) in an informal settlement of Bwaise (Kampala, Uganda). We conducted a snapshot survey of the recent extent of groundwater contamination by OSS using microbial and hydro-chemical indicators. Through transition arenas and key informant interviews, we investigated the socio-institutional drivers of the contamination. Overall, 14 out of the 17 sampled groundwater sources tested positive for Escherichia coli during the wet season. Nitrate concentrations at four sources exceeded the World Health Organization guideline value (50 mg/L), attributed to OSS. Despite the high contamination, the community highly valued groundwater as an alternative to the intermittent municipal water supply. We deduced six drivers of groundwater contamination, including land-use management, user attributes, governance, infrastructure management, groundwater valuation, and the operating environment (“LUGIVE”). Qualitative indicators for each of the drivers were also construed, and their interlinkages presented in a causal loop diagram, representing a socio-institutional assessment framework. The framework can help policymakers and the community to analyze various socio-institutional control levers to reduce the risk of groundwater contamination by OSS in informal settlements

Handle with care: navigating the pluriformity of power to enable actionable knowledge for transitions in informal settlements in the global south

This is a research paper on Handle with care: navigating the pluriformity of power to enable actionable knowledge for transitions in informal settlements in the global south.This Perspective positions urban challenges in informal settlements in the Global South as a question of how to coproduce actionable knowledge for sustainability transitions, and how this relates to power issues. The aim is to inform those who are actively working on sustainability transitions in practice how to navigate the pluriform ways power matters in transitions. Also as a way to reflect on one’s doings and as a starting point to develop research and/or policy programs that enable alternative solutions. This Perspective is based on fieldwork in three informal settlements in Kampala and focusses specifically on sustainability issues related to gaining access to, maintenance and control of water services. We highlight the importance of challenging dominant frames of places and communities, coproducing dynamic maps of power relations and interdependencies related to a specific urban challenge and taking into account the contextualized understanding of power relations within a political system