SAFE WATER AND SANITATION – COST-EFFECTIVE APPROACHES THAT WORK

During the 1980s the United Nations spearheaded an ‘International Drinking Water Supplies and Sanitation Decade’ to bring water and sanitation to the millions of people in developing countries without access to these basic services. Fifty litres of clean water a day are considered necessary to stay healthy – for drinking, washing, cooking, sanitation and personal hygiene. And yet in 55 countries, this standard is still not met. A decade later, despite considerable effort, demographic growth and particularly rapid urbanisation have outstripped developing countries’ capacity to build pipelines, develop distribution, drainage and management systems, dig latrines, bore, pump, and connect users to the water supply, and treat, recycle, and re-use waste safely. As convenient and easily accessible water resources are exhausted by thirsty and often inefficient irrigation, wasteful city infrastructure (40% losses in distribution systems throughout the world are not uncommon) and industries, there is less opportunity for cost-effective building and operating new engineering works.

Instead, new investment should, where necessary, adopt new approaches that are more cost-effective and address at least some of the limitations identified with conventional waterworks and their management. In water-scarce areas, analysis of the different functions may help reduce water wastage, for example, by replacing it by other media for heat exchange and the transport of sewage. In peri-urban and rural areas, community-based approaches, including awareness campaigns, public health and hygiene training and appropriate sanitation technologies, have demonstrated their ability to bring about tangible improvements. End-user participation has invariably been important to success. Such lessons need to be taken into account in planning future co-operation for water supply and sanitation.

The EC supports innovation and appropriate action on the ground

The EC is supporting partner countries in their efforts to increase water efficiency in existing water supply and sanitation systems, including appropriate technology transfer, institutional reform, incentive and cost-recovery schemes based on a more appropriate valuation of water for different life support and socio-economic functions. The principal aim is to devise appropriate modalities for bringing sustainable water and sanitation services to vulnerable or formerly excluded segments of the population. EC-sponsored research has generated a wealth of knowledge founded on traditional practice and adapted to specific climatic, environmental and socio-economic conditions. EC development co-operation has also been very active in this field in many countries. Better linkage between all forms of international co-operation and to partner country’s own crucial efforts can boost progress towards the Johannesburg and EU Water Initiative goals. The few examples provided do not even begin to illustrate the range of on-going progress and opportunities for further progress in partner countries (see Annex (pdf) and websites for more examples).

A large number of aid projects address drinking water supply and sanitation directly and have a concrete impact on providing such services to literally millions of people. Learning from past experience and implementing “The guidelines for water resources development co-operation”, recent projects embed technical considerations in crucial policy support and management capacity-building. Practising community participation is critical to sustainability. Examples include on-going and planned water projects in Chad, Mauritania, other Sahel countries, Ethiopia, Uganda and several other East and Southern African countries, Tunisia, and island states such as Samoa, Dominican Republic and Grenada. In Mauritius (Indian Ocean) several EDF projects, in place since 1998, address improvements to sewage treatment and strengthening the capacity of the newly-founded Waste Water Management Authority. By 2003, another project will rehabilitate the sewerage system in Mwanza on the Tanzanian shore of Lake Victoria, thus improving the quality of water discharge into the lake. This is expected to reduce the instances of water-borne diseases. In the case of “Basic water and sanitation services in Uganda”, sponsored from EDF resources, a partnership with NGOs was supported to strengthen community-based development. Since 1990, grants have been provided to 16 NGOs for 29 different activities, from gravity-fed supplies to spring protection, hygiene education and capacity-building for local organisations to strengthen their self-help potential.

Currently through TACIS, the EC supports major water supply and waste water treatment investment projects in the NIS
(St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, South Ukraine). In Albania alone, in the Western Balkan region, the Commission is currently implementing six projects in water and sanitation services (WSS) funded with a grant of €28 million. Between 1991 and 2001, the EC water portfolio in the country amounted to €41 million.

Europe has accumulated considerable experience in innovative approaches to using rainwater collection, initially through an international research collaboration. INCO enabled partners from developing countries to take part in the International Conference on Rainwater Catchment Systems, which took place in Germany in September 2001, in order to share knowledge demonstrating that rainwater harvesting is a valid contribution to alleviating water scarcity, particularly for household water security. The goal of linking practitioners, researchers, water policy-makers, manufacturers, clients/ prospective users was successfully achieved. In addition, participants included rainwater harvesting as part of the ‘World Water Vision’ and prepared inputs for the International Conference on Freshwater, held in Bonn at the end of 2001, and the WSSD in Johannesburg in September 2002, thus offering a mechanism that ‘gives a voice’ to partners.

Learning in Europe…

“Potable water distribution management” (POWADIMA) is a modelling and monitoring approach towards reducing critical leakage and energy usage, and thus future demand on water resources. Reduced demand may result in deferring or avoiding heavy capital investment. This project tests the feasibility of improved monitoring of water networks to enhance control and management, and explores cost-effective approaches that can be adapted to different institutional and economic contexts. Acquired knowledge is complemented by other intra-European collaborations such as “Assessing infiltration and exfiltration on the performance of urban sewer systems” (APUSS). Various other on-going projects work on the development of integrated decision support systems for the rehabilitation of water supply (CARE-W - Computer-aided rehabilitation of water networks), sewer (CARE-S - Computer-aided rehabilitation of sewer networks) and wastewater services (SWAMP , AQUAREC). Research is also targeted at future developments in compliance with the Water Framework Directive (CD4WC - Cost-effective development of urban wastewater systems for Water Framework Directive compliance) based on more integrated modelling and performance indicators adapted to local contexts and the sustainability of urban water systems, including the impact of pollution (AISUWRS). At the same time, projects are combined in clusters, such as CITYNET, in order to promote integration of on-going research and its wider dissemination and application. Stakeholder participation ranging from research institutes to end-users provides an opportunity for testing new knowledge and orienting work to respond to real needs.

… and learning and acting together with partners in other regions…

“Development of cost-effective reclamation technologies for domestic wastewater and the appropriate agricultural use of the treated effluent under (semi-)arid climate conditions” (CORETECH) is a research collaboration between three Southern Mediterranean and three European research teams signalling a major paradigm shift towards considering domestic wastewater as a resource. Treatment and re-use will address several concerns concomitantly, such as health risk, agricultural soil improvement. Treatment will be scaled to low-grade applications (in cotton production, trees and animal fodder) requiring only plain, low-cost techniques and reduced energy demand. It is just one example of a systems perspective adapted to local conditions in the Southern Mediterranean.

“Sustaining changes in hygiene behaviour (Working towards higher effectiveness of water, sanitation and hygiene promotion programmes)” recognises that changes in hygiene behaviour are crucial to the health impact from water and sanitation facilities. This Concerted Action brings together experiences from three continents to help understand the conditions under which changes in hygiene behaviour promoted by various projects and initiatives take place and are sustained. Analysis of field research is generating new insights, which are being widely disseminated thanks to active participation of management agencies, educational establishments and NGOs. The African partners in Uganda and Ghana are also associated with development co-operation projects and will help to translate research insights into innovative action.

This is just the latest project in a move to promote and enable the integration of water, sanitation and hygiene considerations into the strategic planning and practical management of health care services. Other work between Brazilian, Turkish, Israeli and European teams showed the health hazards of toxic cyanobacteria (part of the natural phytoplankton in freshwaters and the sea). Documented incidents have grown exponentially over the last 50 to 100 years in many parts of the world, often in relation to eutrophication (overfertilisation from non-point sources and ensuing water quality degradation and health hazards).

MASIBAMBANE, A WATER SERVICES SUPPORT PROGRAMME IN SOUTH AFRICA A three-year water services sector support programme (WS-SSP) in South Africa is supported by the South African government, the European Commission and the bilateral aid programmes of four EU Member States – UK, The Netherlands, Ireland and France – to the tune of about 2 220 million Rand (€334 million, including an EC budget support grant of €75 million). The objective of the programme is to provide basic water supply and sanitation services through a variety of activities including the support of strategic policy development, water and sanitation services provision to selected poor rural communities in three provinces (Northern Province, KwaZulu Natal and the Eastern Cape). The project also provides institutional support to assist various levels of public sector institutions, with an emphasis on stakeholder dialogue. In some instances new institutions such as district councils, catchment management agencies and community structures will be established. Good governance and continued coordination among various actors are recognised as being critical to the sustainability of the programme and its effects. The main expected results include: Reviewing and updating policy and legislation for the water and sanitation services sector in South Africa, orienting the sector towards consumer-driven interventions. Providing approximately 2.4 million people in the Northern Province, KwaZulu Natal and the Eastern Cape with sustainable water and sanitation services. Including health and hygiene education in all infrastructure projects. Improving the technical, managerial and administrative capacity of key role players (specifically the capacity of Local Government and Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) structures, Water Service Authorities and Water Service Providers, but NGOs and private sector will also be involved). Strengthening the sector’s integrated planning and coordinated management. Establishing a gender unit within the water services chief directorate of DWAF. An INCO research collaboration between several Southern African and European teams that looks into “The policy implications of contamination of rural water between source and point-of-use in Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe” (AQUAPOL) has found that costly water supply infrastructure alone, often confined to urban settings, does not achieve enhanced health outcomes in vulnerable groups, for example, children in poor rural households. Cultural practices or lack of information are shown to lead to contamination between point of source and use and thus greatly diminish the effects of such investments. The project is producing trying to find the right balance between ‘hardware’ and ‘software’ in water policy formulation, implementation and education that will be very useful for the Masibambane WS-SSP and other efforts in the region.