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Promoting Sustainable Water Service Delivery Within Northern Cape Communities

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Promoting Sustainable Water Service Delivery Within Northern Cape Communities Presented at the WISA 2000 Conference, 28 May – 1 June 2000, South Africa Promoting sustainable water service delivery within Northern Cape communities Author: Louis Brink Organisation: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry Private Bag X6101 Kimberley 8300 Telephone 053 8314125 Fax 053 8314534 Email- [email protected] 2 Table of Content 1 BACKGROUND ........................................................................................3 2 THE CUSTOMER .....................................................................................3 2.1 The Needs of the Customer ..................................................................3 2.1.1 Water..............................................................................................3 2.1.2 Sanitation .......................................................................................4 2.1.3 Institutional Capacity ......................................................................4 3 STATUS QUO...........................................................................................5 3.1 Physical .................................................................................................5 3.1.1 Location..........................................................................................5 3.1.2 Climate and Water..........................................................................5 3.1.3 Infrastructure ..................................................................................5 3.2 Institutions .............................................................................................6 3.3 Financial................................................................................................7 3.4 Economic...............................................................................................7 3.5 Social.....................................................................................................7 4 WATER SERVICES SUPPORT SYSTEMS..............................................8 4.1 Macro Planning .....................................................................................8 4.2 Management Information System..........................................................8 4.3 Water Service Development Planning...................................................8 4.4 Programme and project management ...................................................8 4.5 Monitoring and Evaluation .....................................................................9 4.5.1 Theoretical model...........................................................................9 4.5.2 Monitoring and Evaluating Projects................................................9 4.6 Infrastructure delivery..........................................................................11 4.6.1 Highly Technical Programs ..........................................................11 4.6.2 Appropriate technology programs ................................................11 4.6.3 Sanitation technology...................................................................11 4.6.4 Low cost water supply..................................................................11 4.6.5 Innovative water conservation measures .....................................12 4.7 Level of service package .....................................................................14 4.8 Level of service provided.....................................................................15 4.9 Affordability..........................................................................................15 4.10 Payment levels ....................................................................................15 4.11 Institutional capacity building...............................................................15 4.11.1 Water service Providers and Water Services Authorities .............15 5 SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT.....................................................................16 5.1 The Sanitation Program.......................................................................16 5.2 EU-PHAST program............................................................................16 5.3 Income retention..................................................................................17 5.4 Cross subsidisation .............................................................................17 5.5 Water Conservation.............................................................................17 5.6 Self-regulation .....................................................................................17 6 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................18 7 VOTE OF THANKS.................................................................................19 8 REFERENCES .......................................................................................19 3 1 BACKGROUND The Water Service support in the Northern Cape is customer driven and therefore this paper puts the customer up-front. This paper highlights some of the interventions by the community and the supporting bodies. The main idea is that the community has strengths and the resources to improve their own quality of life if they get the necessary support. The paper is therefore subdivided into four main topics - the Customer, Status Quo, Support Systems and Community Empowerment. 2 THE CUSTOMER The population of the Northern Cape is estimated at 870 000. This population is sparsely distributed ranging from 0.47 persons per km² in the Hantam region to 8.91 persons per km² in the Diamantveld region. Only four of the 26 magisterial districts have populations that exceed 50 000 people, while the majority of districts have populations of less than 20 000 people. Kimberley and Upington are the only settlements with populations in excess of 50 000 people. See map 1. The Coloured population group, representing 52% of the total population dominates the racial composition of Northern Cape. Blacks comprise 31%, Whites 17% and Asians less than 1% of the provincial population. The people of the Northern Cape live in 227 settlements, while 16% of the population live on commercial farms. 2.1 The Needs of the Customer The water services needs of the communities in the province are discussed under the following topics: water, sanitation and institutional capacity. 2.1.1 Water 42% of the population have a water supply that is below the RDP standard because of distance, quality or quantity. The Census figures only noted distance and are indicated on the attached map (See map 2). Figure 1 shows the water supply facilities, according to the 1996 Census, of the Northern Cape. Due to the high percentage of places that use unpurified water it is assumed that the supply from rivers, dams and boreholes do not meeting the quality criteria. 4 Figure 1 Water supply facilities, According to the 1996 Census, 50% 33% 9% 1% 4% 3% 1% 93 248 61 595 16 051 1 630 7 606 6 001 1 455 households households households households households households households have water have water use a rely on a use a collect from use another in dwelling on site/in communal tanker borehole a river/dam source or yard tap supply supply did not specify 2.1.2 Sanitation Of a total of 227 settlements, the sanitation needs in the province are as follows: •= 24 settlements have no formal sanitation facilities •= 106 settlements have either bucket systems or pit latrines •= 122 settlements have pit latrines •= 122 settlements have inadequate or no bulk sewerage treatment facilities The sanitation facilities, according to the 1996 Census, are shown in Figure 2 The Census figures do not note the difference between a pit toilet and a VIP and are indicted on the attached map (See map 3). In the Northern Cape very few VIP’s were build before the Census and the figures can be assumed as unventilated pit latrines. Figure 2 sanitation facilities, according to the 1996 Census 60% 11% 18% 11% 0% 111 778 21 295 33 886 19 944 683 households use households use households use households do households did flush latrines pit latrines bucket latrines not use any not specify aforementioned latrine type latrines 2.1.3 Institutional Capacity An institutional assessment of local authorities in the province revealed that 70% of the local authorities do not have the capacity to provide sustainable 5 water services. The main lack in capacity is in the area of financial management and decision making abilities of councils. 3 STATUS QUO The status quo assessment considered aspects that are believed to be contributing factors towards a sustainable supply of services. They are: 3.1 Physical In this paper the focuses of the physical side of the status quo are on location, climate, water and infrastructure 3.1.1 Location The Northern Cape Province is the largest of the provinces in South Africa but has the smallest population. Its area of 363 389 km² comprises 30% of the total South African land mass and has an overall density of 2 people per km². These factors are presenting unique challenges to the water services institutions and governments. 3.1.2 Climate and Water The Northern Cape is also the driest province with an average annual rainfall of less than 200 mm per annum over the largest part. Therefore dry sanitation systems are very appropriate for the Province. For the communities remote from the Orange and Vaal rivers ground water supplies are the only alternative. However, groundwater quality and quantity varies. 3.1.3 Infrastructure The water and sanitation infrastructure of the Northern Cape consists mostly of single standing
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