Rural Water Supply Network Field Note No 2010-3 Sally Sutton March 2010 Self Supply Flagship Accelerating Self Supply A Case Study from Zambia Field Note No 2010-3 Executive Summary The Self Supply Approach Zambia has a very low density rural population, which makes the establishment of sustainable community water supplies a Supported Household Investment in Water Supply particular challenge. Previous piloting of improvements to tradi- tional water sources showed both a demand for and an impact Approximately one billion people around the world do not have from low cost up-grading (Sutton 2002). UNICEF, with RWSN access to a safe and reliable water supply at a reasonable dis- technical support, has been encouraging improvements to wa- tance from their home. Many more consider their existing water ter supplies in some of the poorest districts of Luapula Province. supply to be inadequate in terms of quality, quantity, reliability Remarkably, these have been achieved with zero subsidy. All or convenience. Consequently increasing numbers of house- hardware costs (labour and materials) are covered by house- holds have improved their own water supply in small and af- holders; the donor input being only in capacity building through fordable steps using their own resources. Their capacity to do so training and marketing. and the advantages this may bring are seldom recognised or built upon. Contents Supplies that have been improved with household investment The Self Supply Approach ............................................................................ 2 tend to be more effectively managed and maintained. They are particularly relevant in small or remote communities, and where Supported Household Investment in Water Supply ......................... 2 there is easy access to groundwater or plentiful rainwater. In Country Context ............................................................................................... 3 such conditions conventional community supplies (see abbre- Traditional Wells and Rainwater Harvesting ........................................ 4 viations/definitions) tend to offer high per capita costs com- The Potential of Self Supply ........................................................................ 4 bined with low sustainability, and so often lead to low coverage. Overview of the Self Supply Piloting ....................................................... 5 Approaches Used ............................................................................................. 5 Under the Self Supply flagship, the Rural Water Supply Network Technologies Promoted ................................................................................ 7 (RWSN) is encouraging authorities, NGOs and the private sector Wellhead Protection ....................................................................................... 7 to recognize that many households and small groups can actu- ally construct, or pay for the construction of wells and rainwater Household water treatment and Safe Storage ................................... 8 harvesting facilities. Households can also improve water quality Results of the Piloting .................................................................................... 8 by upgrading existing water sources or undertaking household Synthesis of Key Issues ................................................................................ 10 water treatment, or a combination of the two. Many are show- Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 11 ing the demand for such improvements and the constraints which they face in achieving their aims. Abbreviations and Definitions To enable and encourage them to make such investments, four ACOs Area Community Organizers supporting pillars are required (Sutton 2009): ADC Area Development Committees Technology and technical advice for consumers (now sometimes called Ward DCs) DAPP Development Aid from People to People A developed private sector D-WASHE District Water, Sanitation and Health Access to micro-credit or savings mechanisms Education Committee Policies which encourage individual initiatives EWB Engineers without Borders HWTS Household Water Treatment and Storage The overarching aim of piloting initiatives in the four countries JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency of Ethiopia, Mali, Uganda and Zambia is the establishment of MDG Millennium Development Goal these pillars to create an enabling environment and ultimately MEWD Ministry of Energy and Water Development taking the self supply approach to scale. MLGH Ministry of Local Government and Housing This report is the second in a set of five. Four of these reports MOH Ministry of Health present progress in countries (Ethiopia, Mali, Uganda and Zam- NHMC Neighbourhood Health Management bia) which have been piloting Self Supply. The fifth report Committee draws together the lessons from these projects. UNICEF United Nations Children‟s Fund VWASHE Village Water, Sanitation and hygiene Committee WDC Ward Development Committee Conventional community supply refers to heavily subsidised water supply services which are implemented by Governments and NGOs and then managed by communities. 2 Field Note No 2010-3 Zambia has a total population of 12 million (CIA 2009). The rural Country Context population of about 8 million is sparsely scattered with an aver- age population density of around 10/km2. Geography, Geology and Population The main commercial livestock areas are Southern province, Zambia is a land-locked country, with an area of some three Central province, Lusaka province, Copperbelt province and the quarters of a million square kilometres. About 7% is arable. Al- Eastern province, and large numbers of cattle are found under though there is relatively little irrigated agriculture, there are 2 small cattle farms particularly in the Southern and Western almost 10,000 km of open water, notably the plentiful swamp provinces (FAO 2006). Cattle production in certain regions is lands and lakes of the North and of Lake Kariba and the Zam- limited by trypanosomiasis, carried by the tsetse fly. bezi River to the South. Economics Levels of poverty are high and Zambia is ranked 164 out of 182 in the Human Development Index (HDI) (UNDP 2009). The rank- ing is slightly higher than many other sub-Saharan African countries partly due to the fact that the economy is largely based on mining, with a relatively large salaried urban popula- tion in the Copper Belt and Lusaka (35%). The economy is very dependent on the price of copper. The relatively high level of urbanisation also means that food production depends on a relatively small and mainly subsis- tence farming sector. A high proportion of the population (some 67%) live in extreme poverty (UNDP 2008). Rural dwellers account for 65% of the population, and are highly dependent on rain-fed agriculture, which is often affected by drought (es- pecially in the South) and floods (in the Zambezi river valley). Rural Water Supply Figure 1 Map of Zambia The level of rural water coverage in 2008 in Zambia was 46% (UNICEF/WHO 2010) with an MDG target of 75% by 2015. It should be noted that the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) of The annual rainfall in Zambia decreases from an average of 2007 estimates that the water coverage figure is even lower, 1,200 mm in the north to an average of 600 mm in the south with only 20% of the rural population having access to an im- (FAO 2006). A major environmental problem reportedly faced proved source. by Zambia is deforestation, which has a particular impact on the regulation of much of the catchment area of the Zambezi River. Progress to increase coverage has been slow, averaging 1.3% Authorities agree that small-scale agricultural practices are the per year since 1990 (UNICEF/WHO 2010). It is necessary to in- largest contributor to loss of forests (NFU/GART 2010). crease the number of people gaining access to rural water an- nually by a factor of 6 if the MDG is to be met (WSP 2006). The most dependable aquifers are the alluvial deposits along the main rivers (Zambezi, Luangwa, Kafue and Luapula) and Widespread handpump rehabilitation has accompanied new around the lakes, and the wind-blown Kalahari sands covering borehole construction programmes but keeping the systems the west and north-west (BGS 2001). Zambia‟s geology is domi- operational has been a major challenge. An estimated 32% are nated by crystalline rocks, although there are also sedimentary not working despite so many replacements (Harvey 2009). More formations (BGS 2001). There has been a steady increase in the than half of the rural water coverage is provided by large di- used of groundwater in Zambia, which provided some 9% of ameter lined hand-dug wells. However boreholes are now the water use in 2001 (BGS 2001). favoured option by Government. National policy is to provide a handpump for every 250 people and small piped supplies for It is estimated that only 1.5% of the annual renewable water populations of 2000. Up-graded traditional wells, with at least resources are being used at present. There are significant re- partial lining (e.g. Figure 2), are included in the statistics as a gional differences across the country with regard to place and suitable level of service for scattered households. time when water is available, and groundwater availability is unevenly distributed (Sievers 2006). 3 Field Note No 2010-3 Figure 2 Up-graded Family well: National standard has a top No systematic