Household Water Security and the Human Right to Water and Sanitation

There are varying degrees of access to water and sanitation, and thus, in many developing country cities, it is difficult to determine whether individual households achieve water security at the household level. In such cities, it is the poor who are most likely to depend on poor quality water and sanitation services and, thus, are most likely to suffer from water insecurity at the household level. Here we explore how the human rights to water and sanitation are addressed in the national water laws of two countries (Ethiopia and Kenya) where water and sanitation systems fail to achieve universal coverage and thus household water insecurity is a significant problem.