Influence of Economic Factors on Promotion of Safe Faecal Management in Isiolo Town, Kenya

Abstract

Ineffective urban sanitation infrastructure drives environmental contamination and waterborne pathogen proliferation. Safely managed sanitation breaks transmission pathways, yet local economic constraints heavily restrict its implementation and widespread household adoption. This study assessed the influence of economic factors on the promotion of safe faecal sludge management in Isiolo Town, Kenya, using a convergent mixed-methods design that concurrently integrated quantitative cross-sectional surveys and qualitative thematic evaluations across Wabera, Burat, and Bulapesa urban wards between January and December 2024. The study targeted household heads using on-site sanitation systems and 6 purposively selected pit exhausters; Yamane’s formula yielded a proportionately stratified random sample of 393 households from a population of 24,211 households. Structured questionnaires and observation checklists, validated through a 10% pilot (α = 0.846), generated quantitative data analysed using SPSS v30.0, while qualitative insights from Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were evaluated through thematic analysis. Results revealed that financial constraints primarily limited ownership of improved sanitation facilities (79.60% agreement; M = 3.96, SD = 0.667). While 75.10% (M = 4.05) expressed a high willingness to pay for emptying, 72.90% (M = 2.36) found market fees unaffordable. Structurally, 61.10% (M = 2.59) of pits were unlined, failing to isolate excreta and increasing the risk of pathogen leakage; middle-income households frequently omitted utility manholes, necessitating manual exhaustion or slab demolition. Inferential analysis showed that the overall regression model for economic factors was statistically significant (p = .012), explaining 1.7% of operational variance (R² = .017), with the strongest localised effect observed for faecal conveyance (B = 0.446, β = 0.313, p < .001). This study concludes that high community willingness to pay for safe faecal sludge management is constrained by low household income levels, unlined pits, and high mechanical exhaustion tariffs across the faecal sludge management chain. Mitigating localised pathogen risks requires public-private subsidisation models, targeted community sensitisation, and standardised engineering guidelines for containment systems.