Challenges and Coping Strategies of Potable Water Supply Systems in Rural Communities of Vhembe District Municipality, South

Research Article

iMedPub Journals Journal of Biomedical Science and Applications 2019 www.imedpub.com Vol.3 No.1:1

Challenges and Coping Strategies of Potable Water Supply Systems in Rural Communities of Vhembe District Municipality, South Africa Tuwani Malima*, Beata Kilonzo and Jethro Zuwarimwe

Institute for Rural Development, University of Venda, Private Bag X5050, Thohoyandou, 0950, Limpopo, South Africa *Corresponding author: Tuwani Malima, Institute for Rural Development, University of Venda, Private Bag X5050, Thohoyandou, 0950, Limpopo, South Africa, Tel: +27825182676; E-mail: [email protected] Received date: February 03, 2019; Accepted date: February 08, 2019; Published date: February 20, 2019 Copyright: © 2019 Malima T, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation: Malima T, Kilonzo B, Zuwarimwe J (2019) Challenges and Coping Stratergies of Potable Water Supply Systems in Rural Communities of Vhembe District Municipality, South Africa. J Biomed Sci Appl Vol.3 No.1:1 water from unsafe sources such as rivers and fountains for survival. The study recommended that communities play Abstract active role in the water projects which include paying of water supply service for the sustainability of water Challenges with respect to potable water supply in service. The study further recommends water committee Vhembe District threaten the health and welfare of that will manage, operate and maintain and collect water people residing in the District. Aged water infrastructure, users fee and help to maintain the water in the area with systems breakdown, vandalism of infrastructure, lack of the assistance of VDM municipality. In conclusion rural maintenance and operations of infrastructure are the water supply situation can be improved when main problems which make water supply systems communities, government and all stakeholders involved unreliable and inconsistent. This paper assessed can come together and provide solutions and resources. challenges and coping strategies in the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) in relation to potable water supply Keywords: Potable water; Rural area; Water supply systems to rural communities. The aim was to identify systems; Coping strategy intervention systems to improve the water supply systems in rural areas of VDM. Vhembe District is found in Limpopo Province of South Africa. Most of its residents (90%) are located in rural areas. Data for this paper was Introduction collected from households, councilors, and municipal officials through questionnaires, interviews and focus Water supply is a fundamental basic human right protected group discussion. Thematic content analysis and by international and national legislation of many countries descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. The including South Africa (World Health Organization (WHO) [1]. results showed that the main sources of water are ground Despite this, there are 884 million of people globally who water from the borehole which is used by about 45.3%, continue using unprotected water sources to survive such as followed by tap water at 35.3% from the dams, then rivers springs, fountain, wells and rivers which are easily at 4.0%, fountain at 5.4% and water tankers at 10.0%. contaminated. According to Sustich et al. [2] globally over one Most sources were not functional due to inadequate billion people are affected by water-borne disease due to funding to maintain and operate the water supply system. inadequate water supply which forces them to use Boreholes and tap water from the dam in most villages unprotected sources. Makuhlani, Nyamupingidza and Adeoye were not functional at the time of the visit. This was due et al. [3,4] established that potable water supply shortages in to breakdown of the boreholes or pipe system, stolen Sub-Sahara Africa was attributed to global warming, drought water infrastructure and lack of maintenance. In addition, and population increase which increases during the dry spell. some water supply problems were caused by vandalism of In Africa although there are countries who are making efforts infrastructure, which further results in breakdown of the to improve the state of potable water supply, most rural water supply system. Non-payment of water services by communities still struggle to get clean water as also supported residents was a serious problem as there is no village by Itoua et al. [5]. visited which is paying for water supply service, inadequate community participation in management and The South African constitution in Schedule 4 and 5 of the operation of the water project. To cope with water supply Constitution of the Republic of South Africa gives water supply challenges, some of the rural communities of VDM resort systems prerogative to the district municipality while to buying water from water vendors, store water in provincial government’s role is that of monitoring, evaluation containers or tanks for future use as well as from those and support. In addition, Section 27 of the Constitution of the who have their own private boreholes. For those Republic of South Africa (1996) further provides that communities without financial capacity, they collected

“everyone has the right to have access to sufficient water and Methods sanitation”. The national department of water affairs and sanitation is mandated to deliver equitable and sustained provision of water of acceptable quality and quantity, its Description of the study area protection and sanitation services to provincial, district and The study was carried out in the rural wards from each of local municipality communities. Various legislation such as the the four local municipalities within Vhembe District (VDM) in Municipal Structures Act (Act 117 of 1998), Municipal Systems Limpopo Province of South Africa (Figure 1). Vhembe District Act (Act 32 of 2000) and White Paper on Transforming Public Municipality (VDM) was established in 2000 based on the Service Delivery (1997) emphasized transformation of Local Government Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998. municipality and provision of service delivery which include Vhembe District is located in the rural areas. The District is water service. made up of four local municipalities namely Musina, Furthermore, water service authorities as suggested by Thulamela, Makhado and LIM 345 (Collins Chabane) which is Mukuhlani and Nyamupingidza et al. [3] Lorlumun, Ahmed and the newly named municipality covering Malamulele area Cook et al. [6-8] implemented water shedding, drilling, (Vhembe District Municipality IDP). The District Municipality rehabilitation of boreholes, water tanks, building water has a population of about 1,294,722 people with about reservoirs and conserving natural water resources as ways to 335,276 households (Vhembe IDP, 2016/17) in addition address potable water supply challenges in rural communities. Vhembe District continues to struggle to try to overcome a Pre-paid meter water supply systems have been established large backlog in the provision of basic services that include for some communities especially urban areas in Vhembe as provision of potable water to rural communities (Vhembe also noted by Rananga and Gumbo et al. [9]. The availability of District Municipality IDP, 2009). clean water for drinking is a serious concern in Vhembe District Figure 1 below is the map of Vhembe District Municipality Municipality as many communities continue to collect water together with all four municipalities which are Makhado, from any convenient water sources available. The purpose of Musina, Thulamela and Collins Chabane. this paper was to investigate the challenges and copying strategies of potable water supply systems to rural areas of Vhembe District. The aim was to come up with an intervention strategy to improve the water supply system in the area.

Figure 1 Vhembe District Municipality Map.

Wards with the most households (With 670 households and participate in the study. Interviews were held with three more) and which is more remotely situated were selected. municipal officials and questionnaires were distributed to 448 Households participation were based on their willingness to households and 14 councilors. 14 Focus Group discussions 2 This article is available from: http://www.imedpub.com/journal-biomedical-science-applications/ Journal of Biomedical Science and Applications 2019 Vol.3 No.1:1

were held to seek convergence across qualitative and The requirement for signed consent was waived due to the quantitative methods as supported by Creswell [10]. Data was implied consent assumed by participants when they agreed to analyzed through content analysis and descriptive statistics. complete and submit their surveys. Data analysis Results and Discussion Pearson correlations were conducted to assess the relationship between student’s lifestyle behaviors, their Main water sources in VDM knowledge, confidence and attitudes towards nutrition in patient care. The following factors were included as “self- Findings of the study in Table 1 below indicate that most of reported lifestyle behaviors”: knowing how to cook, eating the households in the rural areas of VDM rely on boreholes three or more servings of fruit/vegetables a day and exercising (45.3%), tap water from dam treated and supplied by the local at least 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week. Confidence in municipalities (35.3%) for water supply. There are few villagers providing nutrition counseling was assessed based on the who rely on the rivers (4.0%), fountains (5.4%) (Refer to following question: “I feel confident discussing meal plans and Annexure E) and this is since the rivers or fountains are used as dietary interventions with patients.” All items used a 5-point alternative sources when water is not available in some areas. Likert Scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. There are also communities where the main source is not Participants who responded “Not Applicable” were excluded functional and in that case they relied on the water tankers to from the analysis. One-Way ANOVAs were conducted to assess supply them with water (10%). This was supported by any temporal difference in student’s attitudes towards the Gronwall et al. who said that rural communities rely on importance of nutrition in patient care or knowledge in boreholes as a system of water supply. There is a challenge nutrition as they matured in training. especially for people using water collected from unprotected sources like rivers, fountains which are health risks from This study received exempt status from the Institutional waterborne diseases. Tshikolomo et al. [11] justified that using Review Board and Committee on Human Studies of the unprotected sources is dangerous to our health and well-being University of Southern California and was performed in which need to be avoided. accordance with all of the ethical policies of this organization.

Table 1 Distribution by main source of water for households.

S no Main Source of water Frequency Percentage

1 Borehole 203 45.3

2 Dam 158 35.3

3 Rivers 18 4

4 springs/fountains 24 5.4

5 water tanker 45 10

6 Total 448 100

From the Table 2 below out of 38 of the boreholes in the which has been donated by Phalaphala FM Radio and was villages of VDM, only 11 are functional and the majority which installed in 2017. There are only 15 water tankers trucks in the is 27 are not functional and this poses a serious problem in VDM and at the time of the visit only two water tankers were terms of water supply in the area. The non-functionality of the functional which also poses a serious risk for communities boreholes in most villages exposes people to diseases as they where the main water source is not functional. Below is a end up collecting water from rivers and fountains which are summary of the sources and functionality in VDM selected not protected from contamination. Most of these boreholes villages. are older than 10 years except one borehole from Mashamba

Table 2 The state of water sources availability in use as per villages in VDM.

S no Villages Number Func Not Water received from Water Water Received of tiona functio tap water from dam received from received from water from borehole l nal rivers water tankers fountains s

1 Mangaya 0 0 0 Yes

2 Tshandama 0 0 0 Yes Yes Yes

3 Madzivhanani 0 0 0 Yes Yes (Tshidongololwe)

4 Tshixwadza 3 1 2 Yes

5 Mbodi 2 1 1 Yes

6 Kurhuleni 4 1 3 Yes

7 Mahathlani 1 1 0 Yes

8 Akani (Tiyani) 5 2 3 Yes

9 Dovheni 1 1 0 Yes

10 Khakhanwa 3 0 3 Yes

11 Madabani 3 0 3 Yes

12 Midoroni 12 3 9

13 Mashamba 3 1 2 Yes

14 Mavhunga 1 0 1

15 Total 38 11 27

Challenges of rural water supply systems in municipalities who indicated breakdown of the systems as the VDM main problem in water supply (refer to Table 3). In Musina and Thulamela, 100% of water challenges experienced were mainly Limited functional water sources: From above it is clearly due to the systems break down according to councilors (refer indicated that the main source boreholes are not enough to to Annexure A). In addition, the quality of water received from cater for an increasing population. When more sources are not the main sources was in some areas not safe for drinking by functional, this poses a serious health risk to communities as most respondents. they tend to collect water from unprotected sources like rivers The same sentiment by household’s head was that 46% and fountains. Table 3 below indicates that 47% of water (Refer to Table 3) which are water supply systems challenges challenges according to head of households were lack of were breakdown lack of maintenance, old age infrastructure, enough sources to cover all rural households. vandalism and poor security as major challenges for their The challenges outlined by municipal officials were that inability to receive consistent water supply. Akhimouch et al. there was a shortage of underground water in some areas, [12] supported by indicating that frequent breakdown, lack of especially areas like Makhado which impact negatively on maintenance and old infrastructure affect negatively water water access. That is why there is consistent boreholes that supply systems in rural communities. Municipal Officials also run dry. indicated breakdown of the water as a hindrance to the effective supply of water to communities. The water Municipal Officials pointed out that there have been some infrastructure is old and dilapidated, hence the need to replace minor improvements in water services in VDM due to the it with new and modern ones so as to the ever-increasing population increase. Furthermore, the demand for water in demand for more water supply and this was also confirmed by VDM is higher than the available sources supply which assets head of households (refer to Table 3). the views of households. In addition, the other cause for this discrepancy was the chronic droughts that have affected Focus Group discussion also noted the breakdown of water southern Africa for some time now and these were attributed supply system (including piped system and boreholes) as to the climate change problems. Water shortages in many affecting the water supply in their respective areas as alluded African countries are due to global warming, drought and to by councilors and traditional leaders. Focus Group also population increases which culminate in water, stress. pointed the lack of the maintenance of the machinery as their major challenge in the supply of water, which is consistent Breakdown of water supply systems: From Annexure A, all with Obeta and Nkwankwo et al. [13] who agree that the poor the councilors were questioned on the challenges of water maintenance of infrastructure is the main problem, which systems and in (LIM 345) Collins Chabane, the study revealed contribute to the water supply systems failure and breakdown. that the 100% water supply challenges in LIM 345 were due to systems breakdown, which include lack of maintenance, old Another Focus Group discussion gave their challenges as the age infrastructure, vandalism of infrastructure and poor breakdown of the water supply systems, which is caused by security. In Makhado 75% of the challenges faced by the old and dilapidated infrastructure and the theft of communities were also due to breakdown of water supply transformers and other key challenges of the water supply systems according to the councilors views (refer to Annexure connections. Johannessen et al. [14] confirmed that the badly A). This was confirmed by (47%) household’s heads in all local designed and ageing water infrastructure are the cause of the 4 This article is available from: http://www.imedpub.com/journal-biomedical-science-applications/ Journal of Biomedical Science and Applications 2019 Vol.3 No.1:1

ineffectiveness of the rural water supply systems in rural areas. of resources to run and maintain water supply systems as the Figure 2 indicate the boreholes that breakdown 20 years ago problem (Table 3). Demand for water by villagers being greater and residents still believe water is still available. than the water supplied due to continued increase of population in villages was indicated. Adeoye et al. [4] asserts These findings were supported by Akhimouch [12] who that the population increase and droughts make it difficult for revealed that inadequate water supply in rural communities municipalities to effectively deliver efficient water supply are hampered by the frequent breakdown of water services to communities. Thus, due to the population increase, infrastructure, the lack of maintenance, old infrastructure, water has been disproportionately supplied to villagers. vandalism of water infrastructure and the poor security around the water supply systems which results in the stolen Municipal Officials also mentioned the shortage of diesel, pumps. Johanessen et al. [14] also concurred that water supply spare parts as the problems and further indicated that these problems were caused by the dysfunctional systems due to take too long to buy, particularly when it comes to replacing their breakdown. VDM IDP (2009) also identified the financial the vandalised infrastructure. Johannessen et al. [14] argued and human resources as the main challenges to address rural that broken infrastructure due to wear and tear, a water supply systems. The Figure 2 below illustrates the manifestation of aged pipes, lack of spare parts disrupts rural respondents responses of councilors statistically. Focus Group water supply systems and this takes long to fix which justified Discussions cited the inconsistent water supply as the major the finding. problem due to the borehole breakdowns and unavailability of Maintenance: From the focus group discussion, it was noted water supply. that lack of maintenance of the machinery as the major Water tankers in areas with water scarcity: According to challenge in the supply of water in their area. Operation and Municipal Officials, the VDM use water tankers when there are Maintenance is hardly done by the municipality according to massive water supply crisis, especially where the water source Focus Group discussion and this was also revealed by the is disrupted or there is no water source at all. According to heads of household who indicated there is a lack of Municipal Officials, there were fifteen water tankers and only maintenance on the water supply systems (Table 3). Obeta and two were operational at the time of the visit due to the lack of Nwankwo et al. [13] agree with the findings that poor maintenance. This is a serious concern, especially in rural maintenance of infrastructure is the main problem which communities where all the water sources are dysfunctional. contributes to water supply systems failure. Tadesse [18], Furthermore, the maintenance department, which services Obeta and Nkwankwo et al. [13] posit that the lack of the trucks, is also poorly funded. maintenance is the reason why many rural water supply systems are dysfunctional and these align well with the Illegal connection and vandalism: The Focus Group findings. In addition, the consequences for this are serious Discussions touched on the illegal water connections as having unhygienic practices, which result in villager suffering from a negative impact on the supply of water to their households. deadly water borne diseases. Focus Group Discussion also In addition, the Focus Group Discussants mentioned the illegal added that water leakages and water pressure are also connections yet another problem they are confronted with in challenges that make the water supply systems unreliable. their area. In addition, the vandalism of infrastructure is prevalent. This was said to hamper the supply of water supply Lack of skilled personnel in water sector to do systems to communities as water becomes scarce thereafter. repairs: The lack of skilled technicians was raised by Focus Furthermore, Focus Group Discussants pointed out that the Group discussants as the main challenge in their own area as illegal connections are also a problem where they come from. water sources spend years without being maintained due to Mema and Mothetha et al. [15] concede that water leakages unavailability of technicians. Households head also mentioned due to damaged pipes lead to water loss, hence affect the lack of resources which include personnel in water section as reliability of water supply systems. the main problem that hampers water delivery (Table 3). The lack of skilled technicians was also raised as a contributory Municipal Officials also mentioned illegal water connections factor by ECA (2013), hence the concern for effective water as the challenge, Vandalism and stolen of water infrastructure supply systems to be enhanced. In addition, Focus Group as a cause of concern. Head of households also indicated Discussions cited the shortage of technicians to maintain the vandalism and poor security as the main problems in rural water supply system and the over population as the main water supply systems. Moreover, the breakdown of the system problems hampering the supply of water in their area. The is also a major problem as mentioned by all participants of the responses by groups are consistent with the study by Cobbin study. Cobbin and Naiga et al. [16, 17] confirmed that the et al. [16] who indicated that without the funding to operate failure of water supply systems in rural areas are due to wear, and maintain boreholes, the water supply systems collapse tear, theft and vandalism. This view is consistent with the and are unable to consistently supply water to communities. study’s findings that theft and vandalism hamper effective Cothren et al. [19] sees the shortage of technicians to maintain water supply systems. the water supply systems as the leading problem, which needs Inadequate resources for water supply systems: Focus to be urgently addressed by the authorities. group discussion also listed other problems such as the Municipal Officials also outlined the shortage of staff due to insufficient fuel to operate the engine powered boreholes and non-replacement when they go for pension as a hindrance to salty water. Households head (About 47%) mentioned the lack the effective supply of water to communities. Municipal © Copyright iMedPub 5 Journal of Biomedical Science and Applications 2019 Vol.3 No.1:1

Officials said that there are budget constraints to fund the Financial constraints to address water related problems: maintenance of the water supply system, aging staff members Municipal officials indicated that the budget they receive to who are not replaced and the shortage of transport to take deliver and maintain rural water supply systems is by far officials to the areas where there are water supply problems. inadequate and this hampers their efforts to make sure that rural water supply is effectively implemented. The head of Lack of water committees: Focus Group Discussants added households also indicated resources as the main challenge for that there is no water committee to address water issues in rural water supply systems, which include both financial and their village. In many successful rural water supply systems in human resources (Table 3). This speaks to what Obeta and Africa and globally, water committees at village level are the Nkwankwo et al. [13] observed when they stated that rural ones that manage, operate, maintain and make sure that the municipalities are not fully funded to effectively deliver user costs are paid according to Lockwood, Smits and Tremolet efficient water supply systems in rural communities. In et al. [20, 21]. addition, if financial and human resources are made available Poor response by government officials: Focus Group and residents are encouraged to pay for water services, water mentioned that there is always a poor response from the supply systems would be enhanced and sustainable. Municipal authorities to water problems, particularly with regard to areas Officials mentioned poor budgeting by the municipality as without water connections. Rural communities are not happy another problem. WHO (2014) pointed out and concurred with when their complaints are not attended to and the feedback is the findings that there are serious gaps in planning, monitoring not given and this impact negatively on the relations between and insufficient funding of the water supply initiatives. In the municipality and communities [22]. Most of these addition that is why in some areas there is a lack of piped challenges occur on a daily basis according to Focus Group water supplies or water sources. The approximate annual discussions and the VDM intervenes to address the said expenditure for rural water supply is at R 216,628,604.05. problems. Municipal Officials also indicated that the communities are not paying for the water supply they receive. Fewer operating hours: In Makhado, 25% of the challenges identified by councilors were few operational times for water Lack of proper planning: It can be argued that there is a lack access. Focus Group discussants were of the opinion that the of planning by both the communities and the municipality operational times for them to access water were not feasible, when the new villages are established. When new sites are adequate and inconsistent which was consistent with the established in rural areas in most cases no assessment is done findings by councilors and traditional leaders. They argued that to check which services including water will come from. When there is no specific time for them to access water and this proper planning is not done, services like water will remain a clearly indicate that lack of proper leadership. In-operational challenge to communities. Another observation was that there time water management is not properly situated and need to is a lack of leadership from the community and the be addressed. Head of households mentioned the operational municipality to guide in terms of planning when new sites are hours as the other challenge to rural water supply systems established. The finding was consistent with Marshall et al. and (Table 3). WHO found out that the management and leadership are vital for the effective planning and implementation and the Traditional leaders mentioned the operation hours as their performance of any organization, which in most municipalities main challenge (refer to Annexure B, and that of limited is found wanting. In addition, this is because in most sources. Obeta and Nkwankwo et al. [13] revealed that most of municipalities, unplanned settlement is the order of the day in the water supply systems are unreliable or dysfunctional, a most rural areas. Consequently, this makes the municipality fail problem caused by the constant breakdown of the water to plan for the provision of water services in the area. ECA also supply system due to poor infrastructure and the lack of added that unplanned settlements, which are common in sources which is consistent with the finding. The link between developing countries, contribute to inadequate or lack of the district and the rural communities is another challenge water supply to rural communities, which is consistent with identified by the traditional (Annexure B). This is evident when this finding. Municipal Officials added that the water supply communities’ complaints are not responded to for a period of planning is poorly done. more than a year. Furthermore, communities lose hope on the water supply systems and resort to their own means of accessing water although in some cases; water is collected from unprotected sources [23].

Table 3 Water service-related challenges (Households Head).

S no Challenges Frequency Percent

1 System breakdown, lack of maintenance, old infrastructure, vandalism and poor security 204 46

2 Lack of enough sources 212 47

3 Few operation hours and little pressure of water supply 32 7

6 This article is available from: http://www.imedpub.com/journal-biomedical-science-applications/ Journal of Biomedical Science and Applications 2019 Vol.3 No.1:1

4 Total 448 100

Most water problems in VDM is due to lack of funding which the water supply systems to rural communities is in a serious affect maintenance, operation of water project and lack of problem and most of them are due to under funding and non- spare parts which results in the breakdown of water supply payment of water services by residents. The boreholes below systems. From all respondents households head, councilors, were drilled more than twenty years and it broke down. traditional leaders and municipal officials it really shows that

Figure 2 Borehole in Madabani (broke down twenty years ago and people rely on water tanker.

Length of time taken to resolve water supply challenges in example there is no manager who could take urgent decisions VDM: After soliciting for the respondents’ views regarding the to address the water problems. issue of intervention by the authorities with regard to water This contrary to the Water Affairs’ (2013) guidelines that challenges, the researcher sought to find out how long it takes state that the water interruptions should be less than 48 hours for either the VDM or the community to intervene once a at any given time and less than 15 days in a year cumulatively. problem crops up. The Figure 3 shows the councilors’ This then shows non-compliance by the VDM when addressing responses on the length of time it takes to solve the said rural communities’ water challenges. A number of factors that problems. That is, 20% of problems in Collins Chabane take a include the lack of spare parts and personnel (ECA, 2013) month to be solved according to councilors, 60% of the cause this. The Figure 3 summarized the finding. problems takes three months and the 20% of them takes more than a month. In Makhado, 25% of problems take a month to be resolved while 75% of the problems take more than a year to be addressed. About 100% of challenges take only a week to be solved. In Thulamela there were split with 25% of problems addressed in a month, the other 25% within three months and a whopping 50% of their problems solved after a year of their occurrence. The above responses indicate that the VDM takes too much time to respond to rural communities’ challenges. That is, it takes months to years to have certain water problems fixed. Figure 3 The length of time to solve problems (Councilors). This is due to the lack of staff (where some are too old), old infrastructure (which breaks down daily) and the lack of spare parts to repair dilapidated infrastructure. This concurred with Water challenges are addressed after a long period, which the findings of Cothren et al. [19] and Johannessen et al. [14] poses serious risks to residents who fetch water from that ageing infrastructure and lack of spare parts affected the unprotected sources and this then affects their health. This is normal functioning of water supply systems, which resulted in an indication that the water supply situation in the VDM is frequent systems breakdown. The other issue, which is dysfunctional and ineffective as it fails to supply residents with negatively affecting the response rate of the VDM water consistent water on a regular basis. The responses by challenge, is that the link between VDM and the local councilors are that VDM taking longer than necessary to municipality is not strong enough. In the satellite offices, for respond to water related problems as reported by

communities. This leaves villagers frustrated. Sandeva et al. is not available Focus Group discussants buy from water [24] sighted the cause of delay to address these problems as vendors and some fetch water from the fountains. The poor leadership and the VDM’s lack of institutional capacity to alternative sources to some according to the Focus Group deal with them. On the other hand, Jayaramu et al. [22] said discussants are the boreholes, fountains and the rivers. that the regular update on water services, timely and accurate The views from head of households clearly indicate the responses to enquiries leaves rural people satisfied despite alternative sources used by rural communities of VDM challenges. outlined below in Table 4 below; the majority (74%) of water is bought from water vendors or those with boreholes during the Coping strategies used when there are water time when the main sources are not supplying water. About a supply problems few respondents get 4% of water from the water tanker for survival when water fountain, river and other sources for The section outlined coping strategies when there are water survival which is a concern as water from the river and supply challenges in VDM. When water is not available from fountain/spring are not protected from waterborne diseases the main source, communities collect water from the and also that residents walk distances to collect this water alternative sources available. The views below of coping from long distances which is a burden to the survival. Cook, strategies are from councilors, traditional leaders and Ahmed et al. [8,9] endorses this assertion and Akali et al. households. [25-29] who said that to survive the lack of water and Alternative sources when water is not available from the residents buy from vendors, drill their own boreholes and main source: The alternative water source according to Focus collect water from rivers and fountains to address their water Group discussants is a community borehole, which is free. needs. Tshikolomo et al. [11] and Adeoye et al. [4] who Alternatively, according to Focus Group Discussants villagers ascertain that the failure of the public water supply system buy water from water vendors when all else has failed. In forces residents in rural areas to buy water from water vendors addition, the Focus Group discussion indicated that they have rely on fountains and wealth residents with boreholes in their rivers and a fountain as alternative water source. When water households confirmed this.

Table 4 Alternative sources (Household heads).

S no Alternative source Frequency Percent

1 Buy 330 74

2 water tanker 17 4

3 Fountain 31 7

4 River 38 9

5 Other 32 7

6 Total 448 100

More than 70% water from alternative source is bought provide water tankers for storing water used by communities from water vendors according to councilors, traditional leaders (see Annexure B, C and D). and Head of households, followed by those who collect water Cost to buy water from alternative water sources according from rivers, fountain and water tankers, which makes water to household’s head: This study indicates that majority of supply systems failure a financial burden to rural communities. respondents spend less than R 10 per day to get water access Coping strategies to water challenges: Residents store from alternative source. Furthermore, they are those rural water in tanks and containers to cope with water challenges. households who spent between R 10-R 35 per day to buy The households also collect water from unprotected sources water from water vendors or those with boreholes to survive like fountains and rivers to address the immediate water water shortage. There are also respondents who use more supply challenges (refer to Annexure D). Adeoye et al. [4] who than R 35 to buy water from vendors when there is a water ascertain that the failure of the public water supply system supply challenge. The challenge is those who are unable to buy forces residents to rely on fountains and rivers to address their who further resort to collect water from unprotected sources water supply problems. The VDM municipality supply water- where their lives are threatened by waterborne diseases. using tankers in times of water supply serious challenges in Jayaramu et al. [22] posted that communities are not satisfied rural communities. In some areas the VDM provide water when they have to incur increased cost to get water for tankers where there are serious water supply problems survival whereas it is the responsibility of the municipality to according to Municipal Officials. The municipalities also

8 This article is available from: http://www.imedpub.com/journal-biomedical-science-applications/ Journal of Biomedical Science and Applications 2019 Vol.3 No.1:1

do so. Refer to statistical information on the cost to buy water from alternative sources below in Table 5.

Table 5 Cost to buy water per day from the alternative water source (Households Head).

S no Cost to buy water Frequency Percent

2 R 10-R 35 97 21.7

3 >R 35 48 10.7

4 Free 73 16.3

5 Total 448 100

Treatment of water in times of poor water supply: The quality water without being treated. The municipality which respondents were given question to answer on what they do are most affected are Makhado (At 74%), Musina (84%) and when they receive poor quality water from unsafe sources. Thulamela (64%) [30-33]. Thulamela is the most highly Head of households gave their responses below, refer to Table affected because their main sources are rivers and fountains. 6. There are those that boil (42%) water before using it. The burden of electricity or buying wood is huge for those that boil The majority of VDM households (67%) use water as it is. water before use. The time taken to boil water is lost which This result show that majority of rural communities are at high could have been used for other domestic activities. risk of being contracted by waterborne diseases by using poor

Table 6 Comparison of the treatment of poor water collected from unsafe water source by respondents.

S no Treatment Municipalities

LIM 345 Makhado Musina Thulamela VDM

1 Respondents Households Households Households Households Households

2 We boil or We use jik 42 23 16 35 29

3 Use as is 45 74 84 64 67

4 We have good quality water 13 3 0 1 4

5 Total 100 100 100 100 100

Municipal Officials also indicated that when water is of poor There is a need to establish water committees in rural quality like with some from fountains, the VDM treats and communities as the lack of water committees to manage and purifies that water when requested by communities. In some operate the water project in the area has been identified as areas, the responsibility to purify water relies with the the gap. Poor response rate to problems by the municipality communities. In some areas, the fountains are connected was also another challenge and this was caused by lack of through pipes to the water tanks and then supplied to the spare parts. Inadequate financial resources to properly villages, according to Municipal Officials [34,35]. maintain and upgrade their ageing infrastructure are another challenge identified. Due to this the municipality is unable to Conclusion provide the sustainable water supply services in an efficient, equitable and accessible manner (in terms of distance, time In order to cope with water challenges, rural communities and affordability) to all its rural communities. bought water from water vendors or those with boreholes, Lack of water cost recovery and unplanned settlement were conserve water in water tanks. Rural communities without problems that require urgent intervention. There is no financial capacity collected water from rivers and fountains to replacement of staff when they retire which causes delay in survive. Most communities do not treat water collected from addressing water issues due to staff shortage. When unsafe sources, which is a health risk. The majority of the rural communities actively participate in decision making of water communities are not satisfied with the quantity of water supply systems in their area and contribute too financially or services they receive due to few sources available, which do otherwise the systems is bound to be sustainable and efficient. not cater for population increase. In addition, demand is more than the supply.

17. Naiga J, Wolbring G (2015) A comprehensive list of water Conflicts of Interest attitude surveys on people’s perception of water quality, water The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest use and willingness to pay. regarding the publication of this article. 18. Tadesse A, Bosona T, Gebresenbet G (2013) Rural water supply management and sustainability: A case of Adama area, Ethiopia. References Journal of Water Resource and Protection 5: 208-221. 19. Cothren PG (2013) Understanding rural water supply and access 1. World Health Organization (2014) Progress on Sanitation and in South Africa, North Carolina. Drinking Water. 2014 update. Geneva: WHO/United Nations 20. Lockwood H, Smits S (2011) Supporting rural water supply: International Children Education Fund, Joint Monitoring moving towards a service delivery approach. Practical Action Programme for water supply and sanitation, Geneva, Publishing. Switzerland. 21. Tremolet S (2013) Regulation in rural areas. Briefing Note no.7. 2. Sustich RC, Shannon M, Pianfetti B (2013) Centre of Advanced The Hague, The Netherlands: IRC International Water and Materials for purification of Water Systems. University of Illinois, Sanitation Centre, Netherland. USA. 22. Jayaramu KP (2014) Customer satisfaction with domestic water 3. Mukuhlani T, Nyamupingidza MT (2014) Water scarcity in supply in Hlubi city. A Journal of Environment and Earth Science communities coping strategies and mitigation measures: The 4: 105-116. case of Bulawayo. Journal of Sustainable Development 7: 1-144. 23. Kalt P, Bilzer C, Evans H, Liew A, Padovan M, et al. (2014) Solar 4. Adeoye PA, Adeolu AR, Ibrahim HM (2013) Appraisal of rural Disinfection Water Treatment System for Remote Communities. water supply: A case of Kwara state, North Central Nigeria. Procedia Engineering Journal 78: 250-258. International Journal of Basic and Applied Science 1: 816-826. 24. Sandeva G, Gidikova P, Delivadeva R (2015) Satisfaction of 5. Itoua BJR (2012) A snapshot of drinking water and sanitation in drinking water needs in villages of Stara Zagora Municipality. Africa. Egypt. UNICEF and WHO, Geneva, Switzerland. Trakia Journal of Sciences 13: 170-175. 6. Lorlumun AS, Francis UE (2015) Residents coping strategies with 25. Akali DM, Lorlumun AS, Francis UE (2015) Residents coping water scarcity in Makurdi town, Nigeria. Mediterranean Journal strategies with water scarcity in Markurdi Town Nigeria. of Social Science 6: 100-108. Mediterranean Journal of Social Science 6: 1-100. 7. Ahmed MMM, EL-Mansory MM, Bushara I (2015) Coping 26. Dhakal RS (2013) Evaluation Residential satisfaction with strategies to water shortages in Central Sudan (Almanagil innovative dual water supply system in water sensitive area Locality). Journal of Environmental Science and Water Resources development. Edin Cowan University, Australia. 4: 20-27. 27. Doria MM (2006) Bottled water versus tap water. Understanding 8. Cook J (2016) The cost of coping with poor water supply in Consumer preferences. Journal of Water and Health 4: 271-276. Kenya. American Geophysical Union Journal 52: 841-859. 28. Jagals P (2012) The impacts of rural small-community water 9. Rananga HT, Gumbo JR (2015) Willingness to pay for water supply interventions in rural South Africa Water Research services in two communities of Mutale Local Municipality, South Commission, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria. Africa: A case study. Journal for Human Ecology 49: 231-243. 29. Olugbamila OB, Ogunyemi OF (2015) Assessment of water 10. Cresswell JW (2014) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting supply situation in Ono, Ondo State, Nigeria: Implications for and Evaluating qualitative and quantitative research. 4th edn. attainment of Millenium Development Goals. International Sage Publishers, London, UK. Journal of Scientific Research and Publications 5: 1-5. 11. Tshikolomo KA, Nsesamvuni AE, Stroebel A, Walker S (2012) 30. Republic of South Africa (2011) Municipal Demarcation Board: Water supply and requirements for households in Luvuvhu- Delimitation of new wards: New Local Municipality (LIM 345). Letaba water management area of South Africa. International Gazette N0. 2639 and 2654. Government Printers. South Africa. Journal of Business and Social Science 3: 37-40. 31. Economic Commission of Africa (2013) Infrastructure 12. Akhmouch A (2012) Water Governance in Latin America and Development and Rural transformation issue paper Cotonou. Caribbean: OECD Regional Development Working paper. Republic of Benin. 2012/04 OECD Publishing. 32. Marshall RS (2013) Water crisis in Kenya: Causes, effects and 13. Obeta MC, Nwankwo CF (2015) Factors responsible for rural Solutions. Global Majority E-Journal 2: 31-45. residence water supply shortage in South Eastern Nigeria. Journal of Environmental Geography 8: 21-31. 33. Republic of South Africa (1997) The Water Services Act, 108 of 1997. Government Printers. South Africa. 14. Johannessen A, Rosemarin A, Thomalla F, Swartling AG, Strenstrom TA, et al. (2014) Strategies for Building Resilience to 34. Republic of South Africa (2000) Municipal Systems Act, 2000, Hazards in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) System. The Act 32 of 2000. Government Printers. South Africa. role of Public Private Partnerships. International Journal of 35. WHO (2012) Global Water supply and Sanitation Assessment Disaster Risk Reduction 10: 102-115. 2000 Report. Water supply and sanitation collaboration council. 15. Mema V, Mothetha M (2013) Technical reports for Vondo UNICEF, Switzerland. Cluster. CSIR Pretoria. South Africa. 16. Cobbin JE (2014) Ground water for rural supplies in South Africa. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, SLR Consulting (SA) (PTY) LTD. South Africa. 10 This article is available from: http://www.imedpub.com/journal-biomedical-science-applications/