Case Study Water and Sanitation Program Durban An international Metro Water partnership to help the poor gain sustained access to improved Private Sector Partnerships water supply and sanitation services to Serve the Poor WSP-Africa This paper is part of a research and dissemination initiative which the Water and Sanitation Program is carrying out into private sector participation and the poor in the urban water sector. Proposals to involve the private sector in water supply and sanitation sometimes raise fears that the poor will be priced out through higher tariffs and costly connection fees or overlooked because they live in hard-to- reach locations. The reality is that the private sector has the capacity and the interest to serve the poor, is willing to experiment with low- cost options and different levels of service, and with greater efficiency, can benefit all consumers. There are examples of this in many parts of the world. This series will document best practices and show how service to the poor can be addressed by the skillful design of private sector contracts; by strengthening the regulatory system and Summary making sure it protects the interests of the poor; and by creating partnerships between This case study outlines Durban Metro Waters carefully structured partnerships civil society, local authorities and private operators. with the private sector firms Lyonnaise des Eaux and Vivendi, which have been The series also analyzes lessons learnt and explores how undertaken in an overall attempt to improve service delivery to low income international experiences can be adapted to various regions. communities. The note concludes with recommendations from the Executive Director of Durban Metro Water on how utilities can use private sector partnerships to experiment and innovate with respect to service to the poor. Description of Durban Durban, located on the eastern coast of South Africa, is South Africas second-largest industrial hub and one of the countrys fastest-growing urban centers. The Durban Metro Area (DMA) covers 1,370 km2, and stretches 72 km along the Indian Ocean and 52 km inland. The popu- water supply and sewerage systems. with water supply, sewage disposal, lation is approximately three million. Addressing the resulting imbalances road access, etc). Durban Metro is Much of the current Durban Metro in the provision of water and sanita- supporting the PHP through a pro- Area is made up of areas that were tion services and quickly reaching the gram of housing initiatives. However, previously black townships with sepa- large number of unserved, poor the Governments Provincial Housing rate administrative bodies under the households are major challenges for Board (PHB) subsidies are insufficient old apartheid system. These areas the city. for the provision of conventional have poor infrastructure and many housing and services infrastructure, have traditionally had inadequate The Poor and thus Durban Metro has a strong water supply and sanitation service incentive to find low-cost ways to provision. They have now been incor- in Durban provide water supply and sanitation porated into the city jurisdiction, and services to new housing areas. added to urban areas that have Poverty is a serious problem in extremely high standards of living Durban, despite the fact that it is the Water Supply and full conventional reticulated stated aim of Durban to be a thriv- ing world class industrial and com- Services to mercial center by 2015, and that the Poor many parts of Durban are similar to affluent cities in highly developed Pretoria countries. The Durban Metropolitan Durban Metro Water Services Profile of November 1999 reported (DMWS), the department of Durban Durban that 41 percent of the economically Metro which deals with water sup- SOUTH AFRICA active population of the DMA was not ply, sanitation and solid waste, cur- in formal employment, and that 43 rently serves 360,000 metered wa- percent of households have incomes ter connections. However, it is esti- of less than $200 per month. mated that 155,000 households The gap between rich and poor is (500,000 people) in the city lack most evident when it comes to the is- household connections. These sue of housing. The national govern- people are relying on standposts, ment has initiated a Peoples Hous- many of which were inherited by ing Process (PHP) for low-income DMWS from the previous provincial households to develop and build their administration, or are not served by own houses, which includes sub- piped water at all, and use surface sidies designed to assist people to water such as streams. There are build a house on a serviced site (one also an estimated 10,000 to 2 BOX 1: SEMI-PRESSURE SYSTEM WITH GROUND TANKS 20,000 illegal connections to the piped system. Water is reticulated using small diameter (less than 50 mm) plastic pip- Durban Metro Water has already ing (polypropylene, HDPE or high impact uPVC), which is laid at shallow shown itself to be pro-active and depths along the roads or tracks innovative in developing approaches in the area to be served, 'snaking' to serving the poor. While it is where necessary to avoid obstruc- beyond the scope of this paper tions. At suitable intervals a me- to undertake a full description or tered manifold box is installed, analysis of Durbans services to the from which 20 households can be poor, it is interesting to note that the connected. The household itself department has developed a variety pays for a feeder pipe, usually 12 of different water supply service lev- mm, from the manifold to a 200- els in order to bring affordable liter tank, and digs the trench from water supply to the large number of the manifold to the dwelling. The poor households and to make as pipe work is supplied, laid and many residents of the service area connected by DMWS. The tanks as possible customers of the utility. are either installed on the ground These options are: on plinths made of concrete-filled conventional full-pressure system used car tyres, or on metal stands, semi-pressure system with ground and can be installed either inside tanks (see Box 1) A semi-pressure system with a ground tank. or outside the home, according to semi-pressure roof tank system the householder's preference. Many householders plumb the tank to (see Box 2) and supply water to fixtures within the house. Originally, a water bailiff, a standposts local resident employed by Durban Metro Water, turned on supply to the Both the low pressure systems tanks for a short period of time (roof tanks and ground tanks) can each day, just long enough to be installed at a lower installation allow them to fill, but now this is cost than conventional systems, as done electronically. Each tank is they use small diameter, low pres- provided with a float valve to stop sure pipework, inexpensive valves it from overflowing when it is and fittings, and manual labor. The being filled, and an outlet valve to labor-intensive nature of the instal- prevent it from being emptied while lation and operation also provides it is being filled. Each household is local employment. thus provided with 200 liters per Water bailiffs (who previously day, in line with current South Afri- operated the ground tank systems) can water policy, which dictates that also operate standposts at which they every household must be provided sell water by the liter to residents that with 6 m3 of water every month. do not have a ground tank or roof Durban Metro Water has made the tank, thus ensuring that everyone decision not to bill households for has access to some form of water this level of supply, so the 6 m3 is supply. In some areas, automated free (provision of this amount of standposts at which the user inserts free water has since become a pre-paid card have been installed. A metered manifold box. national policy). However, standposts are not the pre- ferred mechanism for supplying the 3 BOX 2: SEMI- Experience with understanding of the private sector PRESSURE SYSTEM that the successful contract for the WITH ROOF TANKS Private Sector water recycling plant instilled, Participation Durban has now entered into two Water mains are laid conven- project agreements with private sec- tionally in the road reserve. Do- tor firms in order to carry out re- mestic water tanks are installed Like many water utilities, Durban search into and development of ar- at roof level in each house, and Metro Water has a great deal of rangements to provide water and supply from these tanks is experience with contracting to the sanitation services to the poor. The plumbed to fixtures in the private sector, as DMWS routinely fact that Durban Metro Water fos- home. As the tanks take the uses the local private sector for con- ters an environment of innovation peak load off the reticulation struction projects. In addition, in has helped make this possible, but system, the mains can be sized 1998, DMWS designed and negoti- in addition the utility has a clear idea one size smaller than full pres- ated a 20-year BOOT contract for a of what it wants, what the private sure mains (for instance, 75 water recycling plant with Durban sector can offer, what the pitfalls are, mm instead of 100 mm). Low- Water Recycling, which is a purpose- and what the benefits of partnership pressure supply to the tank is built company whose principle share- can be. While private sector firms continuous throughout the day, holder is a subsidiary of Vivendi and each household is me- were interested in partnering with Water. DMWS Durban Metro Water tered. The first 6 m3 of water Durban for a variety of reasons, one recognized the fact that the large consumed per month is not of which was to nurture possible busi- international water companies had billed for, but all consumption ness relationships for the future, enormous expertise which was not after that is. Daily consumption Durban Metro Water management available in-country, and that they at each dwelling is in the order were clear that there should be no could be an important resource as of 700 liters. residual obligation on the part of the Durban tried to tackle the water sup- utility to any of its private sector part- ply and sanitation challenges it ners, that learning would be shared, faced. However, entering into a con- and that information generated ventional contract (such as a conces- would be in the public domain. sion or lease) with one of these com- panies was not a politically viable option, due to two main reasons: Partnership with first, that the city is currently restruc- turing to a Unicity from a Metro, and Vivendi Water: there was reluctance to pre-empt Tri-Sector the Unicity Council's decisions, and second, there would have been Approach labour opposition to such a move. (There has been strenuous labor op- In March 1999, Durban Metro position to concessions in other cit- entered into an agreement with ies in South Africa, leading to long several partners to carry out a delays.) Durban therefore decided to project to provide improved services poor, as this method does not allow explore ways to partner with the to previously underprivileged com- for the delivery of the 6 m3 of free international private sector outside munities in the Durban and water that Durban allocates to of the conventional delegated man- Pietermaritzburg area. The partners other users. agement arrangements. included public sector, private sec- Armed with the confidence and tor and NGOs, including: 4 Umgeni Water, the regional lion ($750,000, half of which is for water board and bulk water supplier the Durban component, and half for the Mvula Trust, an NGO the Pietermaritzburg component), and the South African Water Research DMWS R3.2 million (US$530,000). Commission, and The major components of Vivendi's Vivendi Water, a private sector involvement include: water company provision of a part-time project The project is part of the global director Business Partners for Development provision of a full-time project (BPD) program, which aims to dem- manager, based in Durban, to man- onstrate the role that tri-sector part- age the BPD project as a whole nerships, bringing together the pri- support to the water loss program vate sector, NGOs and govern- support to establishing a Geo- ment, can have in addressing de- graphic Information System (GIS) in velopment problems. order to improve customer manage- Durbans involvement in this ment (creating a facilities map, car- project came about after Vivendi rying out incident mapping, setting Water contacted Umgeni Water (the up a customer billing database, ana- bulk water supplier in the province lyzing water demand, etc) of KwaZulu-Natal) and Mvula Trust An automated standpost in which a user inserts supporting research into anaero- to propose a BPD project to the a pre-paid card. bic baffled reactors for decentralized Pietermaritzburg-Transitional Local of the project, and includes consul- sewage treatment Council. The Local Council agreed, tation, using existing community At the end of 2000, the project and soon after the Executive Direc- structures, workshops to educate partners reported that a real and dy- tor of DMWS contacted Vivendi people about the project, and capac- namic partnership was in place. Water to suggest that a similar project ity-building within the communities Education and awareness programs be developed in Durban. The two and the local government agencies. were under way, including school projects together are now known as Each of the partners is involved in health and hygiene awareness, and the KwaZulu-Natal Project. different components of the project, the use of innovative approaches for The objective of the project is to and some provide funding, which community sanitation awareness- demonstrate how a partnership of others do not. The Mvula Trust is building. A water loss management NGO, public and private sectors can involved in community liaison work, study was under way in the Ntuzuma address the issues of providing and Durban Metro Water is the ser- area of Durban, and a GIS project adequate and sustainable water and vice provider. Vivendis particular had begun. An experimental sanitation services to poor sections contribution to the project has been anaerobic baffled reactor had been of the population. project management, provided by built and set up at the Umbilo Theprojecthasidentifiedpilotzones, senior staff of the company who have Wastewater Treatment works, and in which pilot schemes were set up. experience in water system operation initial trials showed promising The interventions being piloted in other parts of the world. Vivendi results. Plans were being made to include the introduction of the three has also provided links to their glo- test a reactor in a community. service levels described earlier in this bal network of expertise, specifically The project includes a research and note, community service centers, and in the use of GIS systems, and in in- dissemination component that will improved customer management novative sewage treatment. ensure that the information and (including tariff policy, billing systems The total project budget is R15.4 learning generated will be accessible and cost recovery procedures). Com- million (US$2.6 million), of which Viv- to all. The Water Research Commis- munity liaison is a very important part endi Water has committed R4.5 mil- sion (WRC), which has committed 5 R880,000 (US$150,000), finances research the legal viability visit El Alto at their expense, includ- this component of the project. of WSSS ing an engineer from Durban Metro determine whether the adminis- Wastewater Management. Partnership trative burden on the local authority Lyonnaise provided a full-time is lower with WSSS than with con- project manager, who lived in Durban with Lyonnaise ventional systems for a year and worked from the des Eaux: determine whether the costs of Durban Metro Water offices. The WSSS are within the Provincial Hous- project manager's job was to man- Research into ing Board (PHB) subsidy guidelines age, supervise and monitor the imple- Condominial assess the communitys satisfac- mentation of all aspects of the project tion with the system (technical, financial, etc). Lyonnaise Sewerage In the pilot project, there are provided social consultants to build three costs associated with the condominial systems: BOX 3: CONDOMINIAL In July 1999, Durban Metro 1. The pipe linking the household to SEWERAGE SYSTEMS Water signed a memorandum of the community-managed portion of understanding with Water and Sani- the pipe network: this is paid for and In a conventional sewerage tation Services South Africa (WSSA), laid by the individual household. system, every household is an a joint venture subsidiary of Lyonnaise 2. The cost of the community-man- individual user with a connec- des Eaux, and Group 5, a major South aged network: this is paid by the tion to the sewers located in African construction company special- every street. In a condominial condominial out of the pooled PHB izing in water-related infrastructure, sewer system, the community subsidy of R15,000 for each hous- to carry out a joint research project (the condominial) maintains ing unit. The network has been laid with the Water Research Commission an intermediate network that by local laborers to save on costs. to test the applicability of condominial links their houses to the main 3. ThecostoftheDMWScollectorsew- sewerage, which is referred to as trunk sewer system through ers: this is borne by DMWS, which Waterborne Shallow Sewer System one communal connection. In- charges the condominial a connection stead of being laid under (WSSS), in South Africa, in poor fee of R122 to cover the inspection roads, using conventional areas of the city. costs. However, this is then divided by trenching and pipe materials, Lyonnaise des Eaux had experience the number of households connected, the network is laid through with condominial sewerage from the which on an average is 15, so each peoples properties, or on foot- project in El Alto in Bolivia, and was household actually pays R8 (just over paths between them. The sys- interested in exploring whether the US$1.00) for their connection. tems use smaller pipe diam- system could be replicated in other Two areas were selected for the eters, and, as the pipes are laid countries. Durban Metro Water felt it research pilot project: Briardale and where there is no vehicular was important to find a low-cost sani- Emmaus. Both are areas with pre- traffic, shallow depths and thin- tation technology that complemented dominantly black residents where new ner pipes can be used. The the affordable water delivery service housing is being constructed. In some community is responsible for provided by the semi-pressure system. of the project area there is subsur- the maintenance of the inter- WRC had conducted a preliminary face rock, so a system such as mediate network, which is eas- study of the applicability of shallow condominial sewerage which requires ily accessed. Each household sewerage systems in South Africa, much shallower excavation had also pays for the length of a which had found that the technology major advantages. small diameter pipe connect- held promise in high-density urban Before the project started, ing their house to the and peri-urban areas. Lyonnaise des Eaux arranged for five condominial network. The objectives of the project are to: people associated with the project to 6 community capacity and mentor the how the project accounting is done, not agree to be part of the community. Lyonnnaise's total fund- and what costs are included. It will condominial, and will remove the ing to the project, including these staff, take some time before accurate costs pipes from his or her land. However, is R2M (US$260,000). Additional are available. the Council decided in this case to funding of R600,000 (US$100,000) An interesting aspect of the project take the risk of this happening, and has been committed by WRC for a is the issue of legal viability of WSSS. went ahead with the pilot in Emmaus. research component, and is being The project participants knew before Essentially, the current legal system used in part to appoint a consultant they started that essentially they does not anticipate shallow sewers, as a research manager. DMWS is pay- would be transgressing the law on and DMWS and its partners have had ing the rest of the costs of the project, various fronts. For instance, the Na- to accept the risks associated with the including extension to the trunk tional Building Regulations con- current projects. At the moment, this mains, and the provision of DMWSs cerned with sanitaryware and sys- is feasible because the numbers are own design and management staff. tems do not contemplate shallow small, but obviously things must The systems in both areas have sewers and the regulations are more change if shallow sewers are to be been designed and construction has stringent than the standards applied adopted on a large scale. There is, started. A few houses in Briardale are on shallow sewers. A legal obstacle however, a window of opportunity in already fully operational, and an- also emerged in the fact that the two the Water Services Act for providing other 40 houses are awaiting the project areas differ in terms of land alternative technology, which DMWS installation of bathrooms. By con- ownership arrangements. In is hoping to exploit. trast, in Emmaus, a few houses are Briardale, the land is owned in a also fully connected, but the rest of manner allowed by the Communal Conclusions the households have been confused Property Association Act, which by recent election promises that means it is essentially communally water will be free for all, which they owned, but in Emmaus, the plots are Neil MacLeod, the Executive have taken to mean that connection freehold. Condominial sewerage re- Director of Durban Metro Water Ser- charges should be waived. This has quires that the pipe network be laid vices, feels that the two partnerships created a deadlock that will require through peoples land, which means described in this case study are help- political intervention. the owners have to agree. However, ing to prepare the utility, the Council, Initial calculations suggest cost under South African law, the obliga- labor and other stakeholders for the savings of 54 percent in Briardale tion to allow the presence of the future; a future in which there will be and 59 percent in Emmaus, but these pipes cannot be transferred when much more involvement of the pri- figures are preliminary. The amount freehold land is sold, so there is al- vate sector. Through these partner- of cost savings are dependent on ways a risk that the new owner will ships, the local government is learn- ing how the private sector works and thinks, and how to structure a con- tract and act as a regulator. The pri- vate sector firms are learning about poverty in South African cities, and are also learning to relate to and respect the local government. Vivendi Water reports that they are already apply- ing the learning from Durban to their projects in Chad and Gabon. Water companies undertake Condominial Sewerage Systems: projects such as these for a variety Community members build and maintain a network using small pipe diameters. of reasons, not all of which have to 7 bureaucrats to use these non-conven- tional methods must be willing to cre- atepolicythatmakesthemacceptable, Water and Sanitation and to encourage their use. Program - Africa Transparency is obviously an important issue; it will not serve the Hill Park interests of municipalities if partner- Upper Hill ships such as this result in a one- P O Box 30577 sided distribution of information and Nairobi Kenya knowledge, so that private compa- Users around an automated standpost. nies gain insight into municipal ser- Phone: (25-42) 260300, 260400 Fax: (25-42) 260380, 260386 do with adding to their expertise and vice delivery issues but the munici- E-mail: wspaf@worldbank.org thus maintaining a commercial ad- pality does not increase its own vantage. A sense of global citizen- capacity. This is especially important ship is also a factor, as is pressure if future commercial relationships are Other publications in this series: from shareholders and employees to envisaged and competitive bidding Case Studies from Buenos Aires; Pune be pro-active on poverty issues. Pub- may be used to award contracts. Overview Paper - Private Sector lic opinion is very important to large Neil MacLeods advice to other Participation in Water and Sanitation: water companies. utilities planning similar initiatives is: Serving Poor Consumers in Increasing their expertise and their run something small South Asian Cities credibilityarealsoimportantincentives work in a suburb or small community forprivatesectorfirms.Watercompany learn together: learn how the pri- officials report that few projects give vate sector thinks, understand their them an opportunity to focus on pov- problems with financing/risk, get erty issues, but pilots like this do. They them to understand poor communi- Direct your water supply and can thus be more credible and more ties and the local government sanitation-related queries to: confident when proposing innovative use the arrangement to turn a solutionsforthepooronotherprojects, powerful adversary into a partner which they are often given the oppor- involve those who might otherwise tunity to do through pre-bid confer- be opposed, for instance, labor ences, bid preparation procedures, unions, by having them sit on the and contract negotiations. steering committee E-mail: whelpdesk@worldbank.org The type of innovative arrange- be very aware of the outcomes, ments and technologies that Durban and structure the arrangement so at Prepared by: isexperimentingwithhaswide-reach- the end of the partnership everyone Clarissa Brocklehurst ing policy implications. Governments walks away with no residual depen- who want to empower councils and dency or obligation. May 2001 References The Water and Sanitation Program is an international partnership to help the Durban Metro Economic Develop- Palmer Development Group. Case poor gain sustained access to improved ment Department Corporate Services, Study: Durban, South Africa, WEDC, water supply and sanitation services. Fact Sheet 1.1 (from website http:// June 2000 The Programs funding partners are the www.durban.gov.za) BPD Water and Sanitation Cluster Focus Governments of Australia, Belgium, Durban Metropolitan Area Profile, Project Synopsis - Kwazulu Natal, South Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Report No 1, November 1999 Africa, May 2001 Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Durban Water and Waste, Water for BPD General Report - Update on 27 No- Everyone, 1996 vember 2000, Kwa Zulu Natal Pilot Project Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; the United Nations Development Programme, and The World Bank. Created by Write Media E-mail: writemedia@vsnl.com Printed at Thomson Press