The University of Oxford developed a water audit instrument with Kitui County Government and piloted it in Mwingi North Sub-County in 2016, building on a smaller dataset on handpumps which was collected in 2011. For the full survey in August 2016, the team recruited and trained local enumerators and collected data using the Open Data Kit mobile platform in Mwingi North Sub-County in August 2016. The survey was extended to waterpoints in Kitui’s remaining seven sub-counties with data collection in November to December 2017. A follow-up audit of non-piped sources, including handpumps, sand-dams, and earth-dams, was completed in Mwingi North Sub-County in Nov-Dec 2018 to fill out information gaps. Enumerators recruited were required to have had formal diploma/degree training in Water Resources Technology, Water Engineering or other related field but with experience in rural water supply, some experience in a community engagement/facilitation role, speak fluent Kamba and be familiar with Kitui County, and attended a 5-day training on the survey tool, including a piloting exercise, before undertaking the survey. The water audit targeted major and equipped infrastructure, namely hand pumps and piped schemes, and non-equipped sources that skirted the equipped infrastructure.Key information on water source, infrastructure, operations, usage, water quality, management and finance was gathered from participants during the survey. Additional details, observations and qualitative data will be recorded by enumerators in a notebook and submitted as “notes” in the digital form. A mapping exercise generated a sketch map of the scheme components and nearby alternative sources as well as key points of interest (schools, markets, clinics etc.) and photos were taken of the different infrastructure components (these are not included in the data archived). Water was tested for pH, EC, TDS and temperature parameters using handheld Hanna meters.

For each waterpoint, key information on water source, infrastructure, operations, usage, water quality, management and finance was gathered from participants during the survey. Additional details, observations and qualitative data was recorded by enumerators in a notebook and submitted as “notes” in digital form. A mapping exercise generated a sketch map of the scheme components and nearby alternative sources as well as key points of interest (schools, markets, clinics etc.) and photos were taken of the different infrastructure components (these are not included in the data archived). Water was tested for pH, EC, TDS and temperature parameters using handheld Hanna meters. Enumerators were required to have had formal diploma/degree training in Water Resources Technology, Water Engineering or other related field but with experience in rural water supply, some experience in a community engagement/facilitation role, speak fluent Kamba and be familiar with Kitui County, and attended a 5-day training on the survey tool, including a piloting exercise, before undertaking the survey.