22270 April 2001 sWater and Independent Water and Sanitation Program Sanitation Providers An international a partnership to help the in Africanr Cities poor gain sustained access to improved water supply and - sanitation services Full Report of a Ten-Country Stucly .4 Bernard Collignon Marc VMzina April 2000 Water and Sanitation Program An international Independent Water and partnership to help the Sanitation Providers poor gain sustained access to improved in African Cities water supply and sonitation services Full Report of a Ten-Country Study April 2000 Bernard Collignon Marc Vezina i HYDROCONSEI L I%)1'')RCXs:1\.:)1'!. Sri bi. 44) ©International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington, DC 20433 April 2000 This is a working document published by the UNDP-World Bank Water and Sanitation Program. Copies are available from the Program, telephone: 202-473-3970, fox: 202-522-3228, e-mail: wsp@worldbank.org or www.wsp.org The World Bank does not accept responsibility for the views expressed herein, which are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank or its affiliated organizations. The findings, interpretations and conclusions are the results of research supported by the World Bank. The designations employed and the presentation of the material are solely for the convenience of the reader and do not imply the expression of any legal opinion whatsoever on the part of the World Bank or its affiliates concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitations of its boundaries or national affiliation. Acknowledgments The preparation and publication of the report, along with the field research and regional workshops on which it is based, were co-sponsored by the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) and the World Bank Institute (WBI), with bilateral funding from Germany's GTZ, The Netherlands, and Belgium's Agency for Development and Cooperation. The opinions expressed in this document do not necessarily represent the official positions or policies of the supporting agencies. Task management was shared by Ato Brown, Sylvie Debomy, and Tova Solo of WSP, and Chantal Reliquet of WBI. The country-specific surveys were carried out by local consultants, who conducted many interviews and encouraged networking and formation of professional associations of independent providers. They are Jean Eudes OKOUNDE (Benin) Mahamane Wanki CISSE (Burkina Faso, Mali) Amadou DIALLO (Guinea, C6te d'lvoire) Jean-Marie SIE KOUADIO (Cote d'lvoire) Mohamed FARID (Kenya) Mohamed MOKTAR OULD MOHAMEDEN (Mauritania) Bill WANDERA (Uganda, Tanzania) Daouda SAKHO (Senegal) Adam SYKES (Tanzania) They may be contacted through WSP West and Central Africa, Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, telephone: 225- 44-22-27, ext. 415, fax: 225-44-16-87, e-mail: info@wsp.org. The report was written in French by Bernard Collignon (Hydroconseil, Paris and Avignon, France) and Marc Vezina (IRC, International Water and Sanitation Centre, Delh, The Netherlands) and translated into English, edited, and designed by Suzanne Snell Tesh (consultant, Bethesda, MD, USA). WORLD BANK GitZ BADCH km lM1 I N S T I T U TeE utche Gesellschaft fOr Technische Water and Zusemmenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH on, behalf of the Federal German Ministry Sanitation for Eoonomic Cooperation and Development Program An internationol partnership to help the poor gain sustained access to improved water supply and sanitation services Contents Foreword ..1 1. Introduction..2 2. The Setting ..4 2.1 The African City. 4 2.2 Physical and Hydrological Conditions ..7 3. Public and Private Sector Roles ..10 3.1 The Institutional Context . 0 3.2 The Importance of Independent Providers .. 12 4. How Water Is Produced and Delivered ..17 4.1 Households Have Choices . 17 4.2 One City, One Water Company ..................................... 17 4.3 Limited Alternatives to City Water Production .................... .......... 20 4.4 One Water Company, Many Water Sellers ............................ ...... 0 4.5 Many Niches, Many Operators .................. .................... 22 4.6 How the Water Market Works ................. .................... 22 5. How Sanitation Services Are Delivered ................ ..................... 24 5.1 Self-help Sanitation ................. . .................. 24 5.2 Sanitation Options for Every Household Budget .................................... 24 5.3 Septage Disposal and Treatment: Environmental Alert ................ ............... 25 5.4 The Diversity of Independent Sanitation Providers .................................. 25 5.5 How the Sanitation Market Works . ...................................... 27 6. Water and Sanitation Occupations ............ ......................... 29 6.1 Water Occupations ..................................... 29 6.2 Sanitation Occupations .................. .................... 33 7. Operational Characteristics of Independent Providers ................................... 37 7.1 Social and Geographic Origins .............. ....................... 37 7.2 Investment Financing ..................................... 38 7.3 Strategies for Limiting Risk ..................................... 38 7.4 Competition and Cooperation ............. ........................ 40 8. Commercial and Pricing Strategies ................. .................... 42 8.1 Intense Competition Keeps Profit Margins Down ................................... 42 8.2 Individual Connections .................. ................... 42 8.3 Standpipe Service .................. ................... 44 8.4 Door-to-door Water Delivery .................. ................... 46 9. Advantages and Constraints ................. .................... 47 9.1 Operational Advantages ...................................... 47 9.2 Refuting Popular Misconceptions ................. .................... 48 9.3 Obstacles to Expansion ................. .................... 50 10. Next Steps ...................................... 53 10.1 Strategic Approaches to Improved Service ...................................... 53 10.2 Avenues for Future Work ..................................... 54 10.3 'Improvements" to be Avoided ............... ...................... 57 11. Conclusion ..................................... 59 iii Boxes Unauthorized settlements in Ouagadougou ........... .............................. 7 Independent water providers . ................................................... 31 Independent sanitation providers .................... ............................. 36 Kampala City Council and private management of public toilets .......................... 50 The solution is partnership ..................................................... 50 Masons in Ouagadougou ..................... 55 Mali's Water Advisory Unit (CCAEP) ..................... 56 Benin's Union of Sewerage Entities: Right idea, wrong application ......................... 57 Tables and Figures Table 2.1. Access to drinking water and sanitation services, ten African cities, 1 999. .....S....... 5 Table 2.2. Income, purchasing power, and literacy statistics for ten African countries. ..... ...... 5 Table 2.3. Poverty, informal employment, and urban growth rates in ten African cities. ..... ..... 7 Table 3.1. Annual water sector income in five African cities and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. ..... ...... 12 Table 3.2. Market share, earnings, and employment of concessionaire and independent water and sanitation providers in Dakar and Bamako. ............. ................... 1 3 Table 3.3. Examples of investments made by independent water and sanitation providers in African cities. 14 Table 3.4. Earnings and employment in water sector, Bamako. ........................... 15 Table 4.1. Public water service in ten African cities. .................................... 1 9 Table 5.1 Household sanitation options in African cities. ................................ 26 Table 6.1. Presence and importance of independent water providers in ten African cities. ..... .... 30 Table 6.2. Presence and importance of independent sanitation providers in ten African cities . ...... 34 Figure 2.1. Urban growth in six African cities, 1955-2000. .............................. 6 Figure 3.1. Numbers of workers employed in the water sector in five African cities and Port-au-Prince. 1 5 Figure 4.1. Percent of households served by public water networks in ten African cities. .....8.... 18 Figure 4.2. Average daily per capita water distribution from household connections and standpipes in ten Afirican cities. 20 Figure 4.3. From source to household: How the water market works in African cities. ..... ...... 23 Figure 5.1. Percentage of households served by public sanitation networks in ten African cities. . . . 24 Figure 5.2. From downtown to the urban fringe: How the sanitation market works in African cities. 28 Figure 8.1 Water connection fee and monthly per capita income in eight African countries. ...... 43 Figure 8.2 Water tariff structures of nine African water companies. ........................ 44 Figure 8.3. Water rates paid and charged by urban standpipe vendors in nine African countries. . . 45 Figure 8.4. Gross profit margins of standpipe operators in nine African countries. ..... ........ 45 Figure 8.5. Unit cost of water to standpipe users and high-volume water consumers in ten countries. 46 Figure 8.6. Unit sales price of water delivered by donkey/horse carts and truck in six African countries. 46 Annex Tables Table A.1. Annual operating accounts for three standpipe operators in Ouagadougou and Dakar. . . 61 Table A.2. Annual operating accounts for five water carters in Nouakchott, Bamako, Ouagadougou, and Conakry. 61 Table A.3. Annual operating accounts for water truckers in Nouakchott, Nairobi, and Kampala. 62 Table A.4. Annual operating accounts for six private borehole and small network operators in Ouagadougou, Bamako, Nairobi, Kampala, Conakry and Cotonou. ...... ............. 62 Table A.5. Annual operating accounts for two public toilet facility operators in Bamako and Kampala. 63 Table A.6. Annual operating accounts for three manual latrine cleaners in Dakar, Bamako and Nairobi. 63 Table A.7. Annual operating accounts for seven suction truckers in Bamako, Ouagadougou, Dakar, Nairobi, Kampala and Conakry. ............... ............................. 63 iv INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFR CAN CITIES Foreword The majority of people living in poor urban provided a wealth of information on a vibrant neighborhoods and informal settlements in independent water and sanitation sector that developing countries do not have adequate water responds to market niches and meets the needs of and sanitation services. Given increasingly high both the poor and other unserviced communities population growth rates and declining quality in on a very broad scale. These studies further utility performance, service coverage by utilities is indicate that independent providers are creatively destined to get worse. This situation is not new to tackling the challenge of water and sanitation public utilities and is fast becoming a major concern service delivery in a variety of ways, and may be for new private sector utility operators. It may come the only option for many poor urban households. as a surprise to some that most families obtain water Interestingly enough, the entrance of the large- and dispose of waste without recourse to the utility scale private operators into the water and networks. Over 75 percent of the urban poor get sanitation sector has brought about a renewed water directly from a range of private but small interest in the small-scale private operators. Sector independent providers (vendors, water truckers, and decision makers should be aware that network providers). Sanitation services are in most * independent providers are part of the solution to cases provided exclusively by such providers providing water and sanitation services to a (manual cleaners and suction truck operators). growing urban population, and that The situation of the low-income and poor * policy matters in getting independent providers urban communities thus highlights the importance to maximize their potential to service the poor to of this type of private sector involvement in water the benefit of all. and sanitation delivery. Until now, little work has It is therefore important to deepen our under- been done to understand or to develop the standing of the operating environment and incen- capacity of the alternative providers, since their tives faced by independent providers so that we activity was perceived as a temporary and can mainstream independent providers' operations marginal solution. There are also other reasons in our client dialogue processes and our project linked to the attitude of utilities, who have con- and program designs. I call on sector practitioners ducted their businesses as monopolies. However, and decision makers to meet this challenge. where they fail to serve large groups of custom- ers-as is common in developing country cities- informal alternative supply options, such as tanker delivery, spring up. Praful C. Patel This ten-country study in Africa, and another Sector Director, Infrastructure and Energy covering five countries in Latin America, have Africa Region INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES 1. Introduction When walking through the low-income neighbor- competitive market. hoods of large African cities, one is struck by the These women and men provide a public presence of countless small artisans going about service without any subsidy. They deserve the their business to perform the most basic of public recognition and support of national and municipal services: delivery of water and removal of authorities because they are responding to the sanitation wastes. demand for water and sanitation services from Whether they are operators of standpipes or most poor households. This clientele is often public toilets, water carters, resellers of water, or ignored by the city water authorities because they latrine cleaners, these self-employed individual are said to be too poor to pay for their services. In entrepreneurs and small businesses are the ones fact, they are able to pay, but for a lower cost, who distribute water for domestic use and perform lower standard, more adaptable range of services, sanitation services for most families in these as offered by the independent providers. neighborhoods. Though the water they sell may be The provision of water and sanitation services drawn from the city piped water network, these to such low-income urban areas in the developing private operators rarely have any official status. world is a major focus of the Water and Sanitation Most of the time, they work for themselves, Program (WSP). WSP began commissioning the independent of the city water agency or conces- collection of information about the role of small sionaire and of the modern formal sector. In the independent providers in the provision of such case of sanitation, they are virtually the only services about two years ago, in order to under- providers, since piped sewerage systems are stand who they are, the range of services they virtually nonexistent in sub-Saharan Africa. Mostly offer and the key elements of their successful unregulated and untaxed, they belong rather to the operations. Following an initial global survey in non-formal sector of the economy which employs 70 1998, WSP launched a three-year program of to 90 percent of all urban workers in Africa. studies, support to regional associations and In contrast to parastatal or multinational networks to promote the exchange of information, companies that seek new urban service conces- capacity building and pilot projects. The program's sions, these independent entrepreneurs reap no objective is to improve the involvement of indepen- monopolistic benefits or rents. They must win their dent providers as partners with formal utilities, customers' loyalty and maintain their equipment with the ultimate goal of improving the supply of on a daily basis. They must be ready to innovate water and sanitation services to low-income and and adapt in order to stay in business in this informal urban settlements. This means encourag- 2 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES ing operators who can sustain low-cost provision suggests that by recognizing and regularizing the of these services to this clientele-not creating new activities, roles, and institutional position of enterprises, but supporting existing ones that have independent providers, and by facilitating been catering to this market for many years. intermediation, coordination, and partnership As part of this program, surveys were carried between city-wide operators and independent out in ten sub-Saharan African countries during providers, municipal and national authorities can July 1998 and July 1 999, and an international set the stage for better delivery of water and workshop was held in Bamako, Mali, in Septem- sanitation services to the urban poor. ber 1999, which was attended by many indepen- dent providers. The ten-country study was co- sponsored by the WSP and the World Bank Institute, with funding from The Netherlands and Belgium and dissemination funds from Germany (GTZ). The countries covered were Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'lvoire, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Uganda, Senegal, and Tanzania. In each of these countries, local private consultants (with methodological support from Hydroconseil and IRC) gathered information about independent water and sanitation operators and brought them into contact with one another, in order to increase knowledge and understanding of their roles and needs. The individual city reports may also be obtained from the country survey leaders and from the West Africa Regional Water and Sanitation Group (see end of report for contact information). This report consolidates the results of the ten city studies and seeks to answer the big questions about independent water and sanitation providers: * How do they provide water service in areas where city water authorities and concession- aires hesitate to invest? * How important are the services they supply-how many households do they serve, how many people do they employ, and what is the volume of their business? * How do they finance their investments in an infrastructure-intensive sector of business? * What kinds of relationships do they have with local authorities and with large water producers, both public and private? * What are their main advantages, what obstacles do they face in seeking to expand their activities or improve the quality of service, and what policies would be likely to improve their services and benefit the low-income urban consumers they serve? The overall picture that emerges from the study 3 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES 2. The Setting Having passed the 6 million population mark, the ment, through a process of trial and error. The world enters a new millennium on the threshold of investment of new resources to improve service another major milestone: more than half of its should begin with an effort to understand how residents will live in cities. Urbanization has these choices were arrived at. become an unavoidable corollary of socio- economic development. Although Africa is one of 2.1 The African City the last continents to pass through this transition, already 37 percent of sub-Saharan Africans live in Each of the ten cities included in the study has a cities-1 10 million persons. The degree of population of between one and three million and urbanization varies considerably, with a higher they are all growing exponentially (at 5 percent rate of urbanization in coastal areas and a lower per annum) due to the combined effects of natural one deep in the interior regions. growth and continued migration from the rural Physical and hydrological conditions also vary areas (except for Nouakchott and Ouagadougou, greatly from one region of Africa to another, and which are growing faster- 8 and 9.4 percent each city has its particular constraints regarding respectively; see fig. 2.1). Residential growth the availability of water, physical layout, and occurs both by densification of existing settlements terrain. The independent providers that play a and expansion at the peri-urban fringe. central role in water and sanitation services in all ten sub-Saharan African cities studied, and indeed Low Service Coverage and Low Incomes in all urban areas in Africa, are thus faced with Roughly half of all Africans have access to different contexts in each location. The one constant drinking water and coverage is not expected to across the continent is the low level of public water expand very much over the next few years (see and sewerage coverage by city-wide networks. table 2. 1). The problem of extending service One of the great advantages of independent coverage to fill this huge gap is compounded by providers is their flexibility in adapting to local the fact that these countries are among the poorest conditions and it is therefore not surprising to find on the planet (see table 2.2 for economic indica- that the technical approaches found in one city will tors). Annual GNP per capita in the ten countries not necessarily be transferable to another location. studied is between US$120 and 660, and more In each city, independent providers hove often than 80 percent of these countries' residents live arrived at an appropriate set of technical and on less than a dollar a day. There has been a economic options that work best in that environ- slight increase in GNP per capita since 1985 but 4 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES Table 2.1. Access to drinking water and sanitation services, ten African cities, 1999. a) ~~~~~~~E ,7 a a a Oa _,-a p ° E x 9 Q) N 0 O a C C c C = C) E C3 C) 0 a U ' a o 0 0 OL)C Source of water for household use (percent of households) In-home connection 76 71 71 36 31 29 19 27 23 17 Standpipe water 2 1 14 5 0 3 30 0 49 19 fetched by h'hold Indep. providers or 22 27 15 59 69 68 51 73 28 64 traditional sources Means of disposal of household septic waste (percent of households) In-home connection 25 20 15 6 3 10 4 1 0 2 to piped sewerage (Near network: (45) (35) (25) (9) (6) (17) (4) (1) (0) (2) connection feasible) Family labor or 75 80 85 94 97 90 96 99 100 99 indep. providers Table 2.2. Income, purchasing power, and literacy statistics for ten African countries. Average GNP per Purchasing power (USA = 100) % ililterate capita Country average Ranking (Literacy rate) $US annual 18195 within growth 1985 1995 group 1985- 1995 Senegal 600 - 7.3 6.6 1 67 (33) Benin 370 -0.3 6.9 6.5 2 63 (37) C6te d'lvoire 660 - 8.2 5.9 3 60 (40) Mauritania 460 0.5 6.0 5.7 4 - Uganda 240 2.7 4.7 5.5 5 38 (62) Kenya 280 0.1 5.7 5.1 6 22 (78) Burkina Faso 230 -0.2 3.3 2.9 7 81(19) Tanzania 120 1.0 2.6 2.4 8 32 (68) Mali 250 0.8 2.3 2.0 9 69(31) Guinea 550 1.4 - - - Source: UNDP, 1999. 5 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES 3,000,000 of main arteries and zoning of land use, but there 2,800,000 * Abidjan is little attempt to organize or plan for growth. 2,600,000 cotonou . One of the main characteristics of African cities is 2,400,000 Ouagadougou the spontaneous-some would say, anarchic and 2,200,000 - - - Conakry out of control- nature of land development. Entire . Nairobi sections of the city are built up without the benefit 2,000,000 Bamako : of paved streets or even the semblance of a grid. 1,800,000 Secondary roadways connecting the cities' 1,600,000 . different areas to each other and the downtown 1,400,000 . business center are improvised. Roadways lack 1,200,000 X- ,.proper drainage and become impassable during 1 000 000 . . the rainy season. Official land records cover only *. /Y w a fraction of the city and most urban residents lack 800,000 . e. title to their plots. The extent of these conditions 600,000 varies from one city to the other but does not seem 400,000 . to bear any systematic relationship to the degree 200,000 of prosperity. In Abidjan, the most economically 0 _ prosperous city in sub-Saharan African, there are 15950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 more than 80 unauthorized residential areas. These conditions create problems for water Figure 2. 1. Urban growth in six African cities, and sanitation providers. Lack of a reasonable 1 955-2000. secondary and tertiary road network makes it the numbers are still very low, below the global difficult to lay water pipelines and virtually average. In terms of purchasing power parity impossible to extend sewerage lines. Lack of land lPPA), incomes in these countries amount to 2 to 7 tenure discourages private infrastructure invest- percent of incomes in the richest countries. ment, which can be expropriated at any time. It is In the cities, lack of salaried work opportunities little wonder that city-wide concessionaires expand and the low skill level of rural migrants means that their networks only slowly (or not at all) into the around a quarter to a third of urban residents low-income areas. When they do so, it is most have incomes falling below the official poverty line often with external donor financing or grants. (see table. 2.3). They have little to spend on even The concessionaires are aided and abetted in the most basic necessities-between US$5 and 20 their reluctance by the official policy of labelling a year per capita for water and US$2 to 10 a unserved areas as "unauthorized", since such year per capita for sanitation, a fraction of that areas are automatically excluded from receiving spent in industrialized countries (US$100 to 200 public services-roads, water, electricity, sewer- for water and sanitation combined). In most of the age, telephone. The decision to declare certain countries studied, 30 to 60 percent of urban areas of a city "unauthorized" is rarely made with residents live with little or no security of tenure in the intention of improving living conditions; it is at areas subject to flooding or mudslides, where best a tacit admission of the authorities' failure to unstructured spontaneous settlement areas lack carry out proper urban infrastructure extension many public services. The incidence of water- and and subdivision, or to create the legal and regula- sanitation-related diseases in these areas is high, tory conditions that would allow the private sector to especially among infants and small children, and do the job. The main result of the label is, in effect, families have little means to pay for visits to the to penalize residents for the inability of public clinic and medication. authorities to cope with the urbanization process. Spontaneous Urban Development Patterns Booming Informal Sector Response National and municipal authorities create the The independent providers that are the subject basic outlines of African cities through construction of this study have filled the service gap left by city- 6 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CMES wide water and sewerage agencies. They Unauthorized settements in Ouagadougou represent one sector of the informal or unregis- tered economy that has always existed in the cities The political (rather than technical or eco- and that has seen its market expand along with nomic) nature of unauthorized settlements is that of the private sector as a whole, as govern- well illustrated by the case of Ouagadougou. ments have relinquished control over the economy. in 1983, more than 70 percent of On average, half of the labor force in the countries Ouagadougou's structures were classified as studied works in the informal economy, where unauthorized. Between 1983 and 1987, the earnings are far from limited to the subsistence Sankara regime undertook a massive level (see table 2.2). In Conakry and Cotonou, it is regularization of more than 95 percent of all more-three-quarters of the labor force is constructed lots in the city (over 80,000 lots). employed in unregistered activities-and in However, since 1987, the application of this Bamako, it is less (about a third). policy has languished and the incidence of unauthorized construction rose to 25 percent 2.2 Phy.il adHin 1993. Thus a quorter of the city's residents 2*2 Physical and Hydrological Condifions live outside the areas eligible to receive basic In one way or another, hydrological conditions are water and other public services, and their problematic in most African cities: there seems to numbers continue to grow. be either not enough water, or too much. Some these conditions, independent providers have cities are favored with the presence of plentiful successfully competed with city water authorities to surface water and rainfall, while others are produce and distribute water. In every city there located in areas subject to drought conditions. are private investors who have drilled boreholes It has been argued that because water and transported water to clients who can pay but production under such unfavorable conditions who are not served by the city-wide water requires heavy public investment, a water company. In some ways better adapted to local monopoly is justified. But in practice, even under physical conditions than the concessionaire, they Table 2.3. Poverty, informal employment, and urban growth rates in ten African cities. % households Country poverty % employment % annual city below poverty thresholds in informal growth rate City threshhold (US$/hh/month) sector Kampala (Uganda) 77 $144 46 4.76 Conakry (Guinea) 41 n.a. 73 5.80 Abidjan (Cote d'lvoire) 36 $284 65 5.00 Bamako (Mali) 36 n.a. 36 6.40 Cotonou (Benin) 28 n.a. 77 4.05 Nairobi (Kenya) 27 $32 52 4.70 Nouakchott (Mauritania) 25 $95 41 8.00 Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) 23 n.a. 56 4.30 Dakar (Senegal) 12 $76 47 3.40 Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) 11 $244 60 9.40 AFRICA 39 $92 56 5.20 Source: UNDP, 1999 Some of the variation in poverty rates reflects different methods of calculating the urban poverty threshold and different national strategies for reducing poverty. 7 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITAT ON PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES are more likely to suffer from administrative Low Yields from Underground Water Sources harassment or policy constraints, such as restric- Many African cities located away from the coast, tions on drilling or an outright ban on water inciuding Ouagadougou, Bamako, and Niamey, production, intended to protect a sole water are located in geological zones of a crystalline concessionaire. platform, where boreholes can be drilled to reach water but the yield is low. In a rural context, this Problems with Salinity hydrological situation is perfectly suited to Two of sub-Saharan Africa's largest cities, Dakar providing water at the village level, using small and Conakry, are situated on peninsulas where the boreholes equipped with manual pumps. But in water table is vulnerable to seawater invasion. As large urban areas, water producers must make existing boreholes in the heart of these two cities use of more plentiful surface water sources. This have gone brackish over time, concessionaires have has required large infrastructure investments- been obliged to drill others, located successively dams and reservoirs to supply Ouagadougou, further inland. Nonetheless, there are also many treatment stations for river water in Bamako and private wells in Dakar and Conakry that provide a Niamey-recoverable only over a long period of substantial share of water to low-income residential time (30 years). areas not served by the piped water network. A City on a River Problems with Flooding Bamako's development along the banks of the Many cities on the Gulf oF Guinea coast- Sahel's major river has given it the advantages of Abidjan, Cotonou, Lome, Freetown, and Accra- * a cheap source of water for washing and were build on low-lying dune ridges interspersed bathing, with lagoons that are often flooded by periodic * a natural drain for gray water, with adequate high tides and storm surges. Though construction fow for good dilution in most years, even in the is officially prohibited in areas frequently subject dry season, to flooding, it is precisely in these areas that low- * a navigable waterway for the transport of crops income residents end up squatting, attracted by the and fish. low cost of housing and proximity to work. Proper But this same ease of access has compromised disposal of human waste is impossible in these the adoption of any environmental sanitation areas, and concessionaires have no incentive to system worthy of the name-the river refuses no invest in infrastructure there because land tenure is offering. One of the main potential benefits from unobtainable. They rely on independent operators better coordination between municipal authorities to fill the gap. and septic cleaners would be to make arrange- In Abidjan, SODECI has installed commercial ments for environmentally safe disposal of septic water connections for hundreds of residents of sludge that is now simply dumped into the river. authorized settlements living close to the edge of such non edificancdi zones, with full knowledge A City in the Desert that the water will be resold to clients living in When Mauritania's capital city was established in areas that they cannot officially connect to their 1 957, it was a small administrative outpost sited network. The water resellers do not hesitate to lay with little concern for long-term growth, since at hundreds, if not thousands, of meters of tubing or the time most of the country's citizens were piping to carry water into these marginal zones. nomadic. Following years of drought, much of the The same situation exists in Cotonou, although population has become settled and there are now SBEE does not officially authorize resale of the fewer than 1 0 percent who continue the nomadic household water it provides. Oddly enough, SBEE way of life. Nouakchott has therefore expanded at does provide these same unauthorized settlement one of the highest urban growth rates in the world, areas with electricity. despite the fact that the nearest stream is 300 km away; it is one of the few African cities where private wells are rare. What little subsurface water 8 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES can be tapped is brackish, so that the deep boreholes that now provide water to the city were drilled at some distance (Idini water basin, more than 50 km away). More alarmingly, the salinity of water drawn from this aquifer has recently begun to increase, indicating incipient overexploitation. In this case, substantial public investment by the national water authority, SONELEC, was the only way to get water for the city and the many private water distributors have no alternative but to buy their water from this source. 9 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES 3. Public and Private Sector Roles In sub-Saharan Africa, water and sanitation (the distribution companies. The same process is hydraulic sector) remain a central government and underway in several other countries (Uganda, not a local responsibility, in contrast to the Kenya, Benin, Mali). In all cases, one entity is situation in, for example, Latin America. African given exclusive rights to operate the city-wide governments have presented water and sanitation, piped water network and ownership is dominated along with other community services, as basic by a large international corporation. public services to which all citizens are entitled, with generous public subsidies as required. In Water Sector Privafization rural areas, this promise has been fulfilled through The way in which privatization is carried out central government investment in wells and indicates that the underlying perspective is boreholes, generally run at a substantial loss by commercial rather than service-oriented, since any community associations. In urban areas, however, notion of a competitive market is absent from the where public water service is assigned to a single concession and leasing contracts, and the city-wide water authority, many residents have no multitude of independent private providers who direct access to clean, piped public water. have been delivering water (truckers, carters, resellers, small network operators) are completely 3.1 The Insfitufional Context ignored, except possibly when their investment can be expropriated. The concession areas encompass Some African countries ckose at independence to the most profitable urban markets, where densities delegate responsibility for public services such as and incomes are highest and unit infrastructure water to private operators; many chose instead to costs lowest, leaving the towns and low-income provide such services through government offices urban areas to the independent providers. Yet the or public enterprises, regarding any private sector independent providers are expected to charge the initiative with suspicion and subject to expropria- some water rates, which were set to allow the tion. Government attitudes towards the private concessionaires to cross-subsidize service to less sector have become more open in recent years, profitable markets with profits from their core and in fact the current trend is in the direction of markets. In C6te d'lvoire, where SODECI distrib- privatization of public services. Over the last five utes water down to the village level, SODECI in years, three of the ten countries have completed fact does finance a large part of water service to the establishment of joint public-private (Guinea) towns from profits e.rned in Abidjan's prosperous or entirely private (Senegal, Cote d'lvoire) water neighborhoods. 10 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES Relations between City-wide Water Companies and many low-income areas (Dakar, Conakry). Independent Providers In the absence of cooperation or partnership In nine of the ten cities studied (all except between the concessionaires and the independent Cotonoul, the city-wide water company contracts providers, and in a policy environment which with private operators for the management of favors the concessionaires and gives them sole standpipes built with public funds, where water is right to lay pipe in public right-of-ways, the resold by the bucket or jerrycan. Such standpipes concessionaires have every incentive to drag their are particularly numerous in Dakar, Bamako, feet about extending the network to unauthorized Ouagadougou, and Kampala. The two parties areas. Instead, they let the independent providers sign a contract specifying resale prices, official take the risk of laying "illegal' pipes, and simply hours of operation, terms of payment, and condi- expropriate them once they decide to move into tions for rescinding the contract. However, the those areas (with or without compensating the written terms are far from dictating actual practices. providers). The fontainiers relationships with their customers are largely determined by the conditions of supply and Professional Organizations demand and other non-contractual factors. In several countries, central authorities have sought * In Cameroon, where standpipes are rare and to institute oversight of independent providers by the resale prices set by SNFC way below what requiring them to join professional organizations the market will bear, water is commonly sold at which serve primarily to enforce government or twice the official rate (US$ 1.60 per cubic meter political party policy. But political or administrative rather than US$0.80). domination of these organizations reduces their * A smart fontainier will set actual hours of usefulness to independent operators, who are operation in response to customer demand and more interested in forming their own organizations not by the schedule set in the contract. to oppose what they consider to be administrative * Because concessionaire agents have no abuses. In fact, one of the study's main findings compunction about cancelling the contract of a was the eagerness with which independent particularly profitable standpipe at the first operators, brought together in city workshops by opportunity (late payment of water bill) in order trade specialty, spontaneously began organizing to reassign the business to a friend, fontainiers and arranging to pool equipment and experience. may prefer to simply make it worth their while The urge to organize was much stronger than for the agent to leave the standpipe in their anyone had imagined and has become one of the hands by offering them bribes. most promising follow-up activities that has emerged from the study. Access to Water Resources and Utility Rights-of-way Under law in most African countries, ownership of Decentralization and Local Government Roles water resources is vested in the state and not, as in Over the last ten years, the democratic spirit many European countries, in the owner of the land sweeping across Africa in recent years has created through which it flows. This provision opens up the pressure to share responsibility, has put decentrali- possibility of central government banning indepen- zation at the heart of political debate, and has dent operators from drilling for water, leaving the spurred the practice of delegation of responsibility concessionaire as the only authorized water for public services. Local governments have found producer. Some concessionaires, such as those in themselves playing an increasing role in the Dakar and Nouakchott, have attempted to use this delivery of public services that used to be entirely legal situation to eliminate potential competitors, in the domain of central government authorities by demanding tha government ban independent (infrastructure investment, civil works bidding and operators from drilling for water. Were private contracting, supervision of works and services, drilling to be banned, competition would effec- drafting and implementation of local regulations). tively be eliminated in those cities where private However, the very limited resources of fiscal and wells and boreholes presently provide water for technical resources of local governments leaves 11 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES them in a weak position to carry out thiese new The city-wide water authorities, while contrac- responsibilities. Until fiscal resources are redistrib- tually obligated to provide service to all residents, uted in favor of local governments, decentraliza- in practice serve at most 70 percent in a few cities tion may simply become a way for central and more like a third or less in most; the indepen- authorities to disengage from local affairs. dent operators do the rest. Together, the private The municipalities reviewed in this study have water and sanitation sectors provide many jobs yet to become active participants in a productive and an increasing share of new infrastructure dialogue involving independent providers of water investment. The urban sanitation market is even and sanitation services. When they do become more dominated by independent providers than is involved, it is mostly to restrict their activity by the case for water (see table 3.2). * fining suction truckers in Bamako for illegal dumping, despite the fact that there is not a City-wide Water Company Performance single authorized dump in the city, The performance of the water agencies with city- * prohibiting private operators from lcying water wide responsibility for water supply varies a great pipes in Abidjan's unauthorized settlements, deal and does not depend on whether they are though these areas have existed for ten years public (ONEA in Burkina Faso) or private conces- and are carefully recorded on city planning sionaires (SODECI in C6te d'lvoire, SdE in maps, and Senegal) (see table 3.2). * arbitrarily limiting the number and location of * In Dakar, SdE serves 71 percent of household by standpipes to those designated by the munici- direct household connections and also supplies polity, rather than allowing private operators to water to 1,300 standpipes that serve another 14 set them up where they are needed. percent of families. * But in Bamako, EdM serves few household connections: 1 8 per 1,000 residents, or barely 3.2 The Importance of Independent 18 percent of households. Providers It is in the three cities of East Africa that the city public water services are particularly weak and Whniletthe sums spenan wountriesater a srndll fraction where piped water service is nonexistent or sonitation in African countries are a slcon irregular in many residential areas, from the poorpyent tof bhilles. andy wthere isthliteinentv toe US$5 to 40 million a year in each of the ten cities seek better cost recovery in order to improve gross product (see table 3.1). which call for city-wide service. Table 3.1. Annual water sector incoee in five African cities and Pod-au-Prince, Haiti. U t 0 0 a en a - 0 0 ~ _ a - 0 2 >.. a .n ~~~ ~~ 0 0 C - (CFAF million, 1999) 0 3c " 2 City water company 45 1,468 4,054 8,000 6,343 1,065 independent providers 100 714 1,334 4,410 1,691 5,623 Total, water sector 145 2,182 5,388 12,410 8,034 6,688 Water sector income per 2,652 4,848 7,697 12,410 4,017 3,334 urban resident (CFAF) 12 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES Increasing Private Investment in Infrastructure large sums of money to extend the water But no family can live without water, and indepen- networks and install metered household dent providers have every incentive to expand into connections. areas left unserved by city-wide authorities. They * In Kampala, two small networks fed from private have moved into every area and service level and boreholes have been built since 1995 by a are playing an increasing role in extending private company, including both standpipes and physical infrastructure, encouraged in recent years household connections. by the trend toward privatization of state-run In the sanitation sector, independent providers water agencies. The main factor restraining private own 1 5 to 30 trucks in each city studied, with the investment in water and sanitation is legal uncer- number increasing each year. In Cotonou, a tainty: lack of recognition of their contributions by private entrepreneur built the first sludge treatment the authorities and the risk, instead, of seeing their plant in the city. The construction of facilities for investment expropriated by the concessionaires treating sanitation waste is the main area where discourages all but short-term investment. investment, whether private or public, lags far *ln Dakar, private developers have paid for and behind potential market demand. Public authorities constructed more than 50 km of water distribution collect and treat a part of such waste in Dakar, network every year over the last three years, or 60 Kampala, and Accra, but most of it ends up being percent of additions to the network. Once construc- dumped somewhere, with no treatment. ted, this infrastructure is handed over to SONES, Table 3.3 gives examples of investment amounts government holding agency for national assets, and and sources of financing for independent providers served by SdE, the national water company. gathered by the study survey consultants. Sources of I In Mauritania, where all 250 motorized financing are discussed further in Chapter 7 pumping stations are being handed over to (Operational Characteristics). private managers, these operators are investing Table 3.2. Market share, earnings, and employment of concessionaire and independent water and sanitation providers in Dakar and Bamako. Households served Annual income Employees Number % of $US 000 % of Number % of total total total Bamako Water Independent operators 92,000 84 2,527 46 1,730 68 City water agency (EDM) 18,000 16 3,000 54 800 32 Sanitation Independent operators 108,300 98 1,389 98 1,205 99 Municipal sewerage 1,700 2 31 2 10 1 Dakar Water Independent operators 45,000 26 4,218 25 1,390 40 City water agency (SdE) 130,000 74 12,500 75 2,100 60 Sanitation Independent operators 150,000 75 2,981 54 1,470 65 Public sewerage (ONAS) 50,000 25 2,545 46 800 35 13 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CmES Table 3.3. Examples of investments nade by independent water and sanitafion providers in African afies. Type of investment Usual source Cifies Unit cost Asset life Cost/annual of finance (US$) (years) earnings ratio Sanitation sector operators Manual latrine Own and Dakar 25 2 1% cleaning equipment family savings Bamako 1 9 1 2% Nairobi 50 4 6% Second-hand suction Formal or Bamako 15,000 6 90% truck informal loan Ouagadougou 8,300 5 30% Dakar 16,700 5 27% Kampala 25,000 10 70% Public latrines and Formal or Bamako 200 5 4% shower facilities informal loan Kampala 3,500 10 40% Sludge treatment Own funds Cotonou 200,000 20 300% plant using ponds and bank loan Water sector operators Handcart Own and Ouagadougou 50 5 6% family savings Bamako 120 10 10% Nouakchott 135 10 9% Donkey-drawn cart Own and Nouakchott 150 1 10% family savings Water truck Formal or Nouakchott 15,000 10 48% informal loan Nairobi 13,000 5 19% and earnings Kampala 7,500 10 13% from other activities Standpipe Own and Ouagadougou 50 5 1% family savings Dakar 700 10 20% Nouakchott 700 10 50% Overhead water tank Own and Kampala 2,000 5 11% to fill trucks family savings Private borehole + Bank loan Nairobi 37,400 16 82% standpipe Small network with NGO loan Conakry 12,500 10 58% standpipes Own and Cotonou 1,500 5 27% family savings Autonomous NGO financed Ouagadougou 15,000 20 500% standpipe Small network w/ User Guerou 3,000 25 300% metered household subscription (Mauritania) (per km) connections costs 14 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES Water Sector Employment MIi Truckers L All carters In each of the cities studied, the water sector E Private cisterns a Standpipe vendors employs from 2,000 to 8,000 people, or about 1 W water utility to 2 percent of the active urban labor force- 8,00 about the same order of magnitude as the water sector as a whole in urban GDP (see figure 3.1). 6,0 Most of these workers are employed by the 4000 independent providers (70 to 90 percent), with 10 to 30 percent working for the city-wide water 2,000 concessionaire (see examples of Dakar and Bamako, table 3.2). Independent providers' role is _ t o O -6 9 even more important with respect to employment as a than with respect to earnings. There are many a water sellers with formal contracts, such as Figure 3.1 Numbers of workers employed in the standpipe operators, but the greatest number of water sector in five African cities and Port-au- workers are found in the informal sector, such as Prince, Haiti. handcarters, carters using animal traction, and manual latrine cleaners. The latter are an impor- Independent Water Rroviders' Market Share: tant source of local employment for newcomers 30 to 80 percent and residents of unauthorized and low-income Looking at the urban water market, independent settlements and bring much appreciated income providers are dominant in six of the ten cities into these areas. Also, the profits are largely studied and play a major role in the others, reinvested in the water or sanitation business or in serving most of the low-income areas in all cases. other local economic activities. * In Bamako, where EdM's service is limited, inde- pendent standpipe operators and carters supply about 84 percent of households, collect nearly half of water sector revenue, and employ two- Table 3.4. Earnings and employment in water sector, Bamako. Cost of water = water operator sales Employees Households 000 cubic Unit price Total water % of No. % of sectoi served meters (CFAF) sales (CFAF water sold/year million) sales City water agency 18,000 30,000 55 1,650 54% 800 32% (EDM) Independent 92,000 2,400 580 1,390 45% 1,730 69% providers Private wells 50,000 100 500 50 2% n.a. n.a. Small network 2,000 100 400 40 1% 30 1% operators Standpipe 35,000 2,000 400 800 26% 700 28% operators Carters 5,000 200 2,500 500 16% 1,000 40% TOTAL, 110,000 32,400 94 3,040 100% 2,530 1000/% WATER SECTOR 15 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITAT ON PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES thirds of the sector's labor force (see table 3.4). Each truck is staffed by two to four men, and rates * In the three East African cities, independent range from US$20 to 60 per visit for household operators have filled the gap left by the public clients; the truckers also serve many institutional water agencies by trucking water to higher clients with lined septic systems (schools, hospitals) income areas, taking over operation of most and some are hired by municipal authorities to standpipes, and drilling boreholes which supply flush city drains. private water networks. In Kampala, the small Getting an accurate idea of the volume of private borehole networks offer service compa- business and employment in the non-mechanized rable to that of NWSC; a private borehole sanitation sector (manual latrine cleaners) would operator in Nairobi sends the water out via require broad survey work because charges vary tanker truck. widely as a function of a number of physical and * In Mauritania, water networks in all but a few of economic factors, there is little reliable information over 1 00 small towns are run by young entre- about the frequency of household latrine cleaning, preneurs who have built at least as much infra- and little is known about the share of cleaning structure and connected at least as many house- done by family members and hired hands, or holds as the public enterprise did previously. about the relative importance of occasional * In Dakar, since SdE serves 85 percent of cleaning done by masons and other tradesmen. households through standpipes or household What is clear from the surveys carried out for connections, the independent providers' share of this study is the dynamic of market progression the market is relatively limited (15 percent) and from self-help to mechanized septic cleaning. consists of those buying water from carters or * In less densely settled peri-urban areas, who share courtyard wells . residents follow the same practices as in rural areas, digging a new pit when the old one is Independent Sanitation Providers' Market Share: full. Newly arrived urban immigrants tend to do 60 to 90 percent the work themselves. Independent providers dominate the sanitation * As urban settlements densify, households tend to sector in most cities, even those where there is a start clearing out new and old pits and reusing sewerage system, because the public sector does them, and start to hire others to do it as their little (the exceptions are Dakar, Abidjan, and household size increases and income permits. Nairobi). Most households, and virtually all low- Demand for mechanized septic cleaning (by income households, use simple on-site facilities, suction truck) has been rapidly increasing over most of which are built and periodically cleaned the last ten years, as indicated by the relative out by independent providers. Their dominance youth of many suction truckers, probably applies to number of households served, revenue because it Is the only way to get the sludge off collected, and employment created. the site and out of the neighborhood. It is more difficult to estimate the volume of * Manual cleaners will continue to handle most of business in the sanitation sector than in the water the work in the most rapidly growing areas sector because most of it is unrecorded, and the where poor road access makes truck access fees charged vary greatly depending on the difficult or impossible. volume of waste to be cleared, site accessibility, and whether waste can be reburied on-site. The best information concerns suction trucks, because their numbers are limited and because they must register their vehicles and are therefore easily identifiable. There are about 15 to 40 such trucks in each city (about one per 60,000 residents), of capacity ranging from 6 to 1 2 cubic meters. Two thirds are equipped with a suction pump and a third with water jet hoses for flushing open drains. 16 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES 4. How Water Is Produced and Delivered In all African cities, the primary network, run by a Any analysis of access to water must therefore monopolistic city-wide operator, coexists with a go beyond the households served by the city water wide variety of independent providers who resell network, especially for low-income users who, our this piped water, either by delivering it to house- surveys show, decide on a daily basis where they holds by cart or truck, or by selling it from fixed will get water-whether from more expensive, locations such as standpipes or cisterns. Indepen- better quality sources such as a standpipe or a dent providers are especially active at the edge of neighbor's household connection, or from less the city where new settlements are being created, expensive, sometimes less clean ones such as where the city water operator has not yet extended wells, springs, rivers, or stored rainwater. the piped network, and where new, low-income The choice depends on how much household arrivals from the rural areas are settling and income and time are available, and on where possibly even trying to raise a few crops. But water is available. It costs more to buy water from independent providers also cater to inner city a door-to-door carrier but using the time saved to residents who cannot afford a connection, earn money may more than cover the difference in including those squatting on land subject to water cost. And water supply from different flooding and other marginal sites, and to middle- sources will vary depending on rainfall, network and high-income customers living beyond the down time, and other factors. network's reach. Quality factors, such as the taste and clarity of the water and maintaining good relations with 4.1 Households Have Choices neighbors, also influence the decision of where to get water, but the importance of these more Unlike cities in the industrial North, where there is subjective factors is ohen overestimated by the ohen a single source of water serving all residen- experts, in the absence of sound analysis of the tial and most industrial customers, in all cities of objective factors facing poor families such as cost, the South there is a wide variety of water suppli- distance, availability, and ease of access. ers. People can get water from household wells, from their neighbors' wells, from springs, from 4.2 One City, One Water Company collecting rainwater, from water carriers, hand carters, carters using animal traction, standpipes, Monopolistic City-wide Operators boreholes with manual pumps, or even individual In each of the ten capital cities surveyed, a single connections to the city water network. enterprise has received concessionary rights from 17 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITES central government authorities to produce and reach the largest number of households. Figure distribute water. In some cases, it is the municipal 4.1 shows public network coverage in all ten authorities who have granted the concession, but cities. Since the water companies tend to calculate this occurs much less often in Africa than in Latin their coverage optimistically, the date have been America, for example. Table 4.1 gives details for standardized by assuming that one household each city about the city water operator's produc- connection serves ten persons and that each tion and distribution. standpipe provides 20 liters/day/user. In some cases, the concessionary terms require The figure shows that of the ten capital cities the enterprise to invest its own funds in network surveyed, Ouagadougou (Mali) has the highest upkeep and expansion. More often, the state rate of city water company coverage (86 percent), retains ownership and responsibility for the infra- despite a low per capita consumption (barely 34 structure (through a holding company, like SONES liters/day/person), because ONEA distributes a in Senegal), with the enterprise simply leasing its third of its water by standpipes. They supply 60 use or agreeing to manage water operations. percent of the city's residents, with 27 percent Whether public or private, these water more receiving water directly from household enterprises have insisted on and obtained sole connections. Standpipe water distribution is also rights to the sale of water in the capital cities and very effective in Nouakchott (Mauritania), where main towns. The monopoly does not extend to the fontainiers (standpipe operators) are active rural areas or small towns, considered less profit- investors in the system, constructing their own able, nor to water production, since industries and storage tanks to increase their volume of trade in individuals are almost always allowed to produce spite of frequent piped water cutoffs. In contrast, water for their own use, from wells or boreholes. there are cities like Cotonou (Benin) and Conakry (Guinea) where few standpipes are in service, and Concessionaire Focus on Household Connections where public water network coverage is very low Whether public (Uganda's NWSC) or private (below 40 percent). (Senegal's SdE), water monopolies earn 70 to 90 percent of their revenue from water sold in the One Public Water Producer capital city. Not only is a large share of the In all ten capital cities, the concessionaires operate country's population concentrated there, but that is the primary water mains and produce the drinking also where most high-income households live. And water that flows through them, whether treated the service standard which the concessionaire has surface water (Dakar, Conakry, Bamako, Dar es to offer-individual household connections-is Salaam, Ouagadougou) or water from boreholes exactly what high-income households want. (Dakar, Cotonou, Abidjan, Nouakchott). None of However, individual connections serve only a small part of the total market-less than 40 percent, El Not served by city water except in Dakar, Nairobi, and Abidjan-and very * Receiving water from standpipes 120 lit/cap/dayl few low-income families. C Receiving water from household connections (10 persons/connection) Standpipes for the Poor - _ The city water authority's or concessionaire's main market is the homes, offices, and businesses with individual water connections. But they also install and supply water to standpipes, an invaluable | X source of water to poor families, who cain buy water there in small quantities as their limited 3 means permit. Standpipes are a very efficient means of water distribution, especially in cities with limited water resources, because they limit water wastage and Figure 4.1 . Percent of households served by public provide a way of allocating available water to water networks in ten African cities. 18 Table 4.1 Public water service in ten African cities, 1999. r- EEo 03 2 X ' g o > E S B t i7= 3 B A 3 a-2 0 CD 0 0. 0 City population (million) 1.1 1.0 2.8 1.1 2.0 1.0 0.7 1.1 2.2 2.8 z SBEE ONEA SODECI SEEG NCC EDM SONELEC NWSC SDE DAMEA City concessionaire parastatal public private private municipal public public parastatal private parastatal 0 status water & water & water & water & water & water & water & water & water & water and services electricity sewerage sewerage electricity sewerage electricity electricity sewerage sewerage sewerage Water volume Production (000 m3/day) 34,000 n.a. 255,342 90,000 400,000 77,000 40,000 100,000 210,000 204,000 > Distribution 1000 24,000 33,787 201,644 54,000 200,000 42,000 35,000 51,000 168,000 95,880 m3/day) Per capita (liters/ day) 22 34 72 48 100 41 50 46 76 34 Leakage & loss (%) 29% n.a. 21% 40% 50% 45% 13% 49% 20% 53% Household connections Number (000) 34 28 213 35 150 18 13 40 157 88 Pop./connection 32 28 13 32 13 57 52 28 14 32 Coverage (%served) 31% 28% 76% 31% 75% 18% 19% 36% 71% 31% Standpipes Number 0 482 142 120 1,500 700 242 528 1,240 0 Volume dist. (m3/day) 0 11,749 1,000 650 500 4,000 4,200 1,090 6,000 0 Volume dist. (3/dWcy/uni) 0 24.4 7.0 5.4 0 5.7 17.4 2.1 4.8 0 Volume dist. (%total) 0 35% 0 1% 0 10$ 12% 2% 4% 0 Coverage (% served) 0 590fi 2% 3% 1% 20% 30Yo 5% 14% 0 Notservedbycitywater 69% 14% 22% 66% 24% 63% 51% 59P% 15% 69% INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITES them purchases water from another soujrce, but for liters per E household water the consumer, there are many alternative sources. pita standpipe water per day*sanppwte 20, 4.3 Limited Alternatives to City Water Production 80 Water Company Production 60 While water sales are shared by the public and 40 private operators, most water produced for resale is public. In all ten capital cities, there ore a few private boreholes with electric pumps (especially 3 = for industrial use) and in five cities, such boreholes I - t I i also provide some water for residential use (Dar es a Salaam, Nouakchott, Nairobi, Bamako, Ouaga- Figure 4.2. Average daily per capita water distri- dougou, Kampala). In the first three named, the bution from household connections and standpipes borehole water is distributed by truck, in Bamako in ten African cities. and Ouagadougou, by standpipes, and in Kampala, by household connections. But the vol- However, water from these many small private ume of water provided from private boreholes is sources in African cities is used directly by the small, and private boreholes are important points wells' owners and is rarely resold. The only of resale only in Nairobi and Ouagadougou. examples of resale of well water were found by the survey consultant in Bamako and Ouaga- Private Water Production dougou, and this only on a seasonal basis. This There are also a multitude of small private water activity tends to carry a social stigma because points, each of which may serve only ci few "one does not sell the water from one's own well." families, but which together provide for the needs of more people than the entire city piped network. 4.4 One Water Company, Many Water This is true Sellers v in Ouagadougou and Bamako, where small boreholes are pumped by hand; In all ten capital cities, there is a strong contrast * in Bamako and Niamey, where the river between the quasi-monopoly at the upstream or provides water to many; production end of the water market and its * in Dakar, Bamako, Conakry and downstream distribution by a wide variety of Ouagadougou, where there are many small independent operators. Many users are not private wells, and connected to the piped water network because * in Conakry, Abidjan, and Dar es Sa aam, where they are beyond its reach, because they cannot rainwater collected in barrels is widely used. afford the connection charge, or because they Wells located in a common courtycird play a have been turned down because they live in an particularly important role, because they supply area considered to be illegally occupied. 30 to 70 percent of urban households directly, in particular (but not only) households in the peri- Resale in Small Quanfifies urban areas, even in a city such as Dakar where In all African cities, demand is high for the service coverage is high. Most users of these purchase of water in small quantities (10 to 200 alternative sources consider the water so obtained liters). Most low-income earners do not work in not clean enough for drinking or cooking, but use salaried positions and the irregularity of their it for washing and bathing. This water still earnings means that they are managing their constitutes an appreciated resource for low-income money on a day-to-day basis. The surveys indicate families, since it allows them to limit their pur- that they always manage to come up with the chases of water from the piped network. means to satisfy their doily needs for water, but 20 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROV DERS IN AFRICAN CITIES are not in a position to set money aside for larger concessionaire. These are especially common in payments required for individual household Dakar, Bamako, and Ouagadougou. connections or quarterly water bills. What * Licensed water resellers are micro-entrepre- independent providers offer is what they need and neurs who have contracted to resell water piped can afford-small quantities of water. to their homes and who may invest in standpipe These sales may be made by door-to-door installation and network extension investment to carriers or by many other means: do this, as in Abidjan [C6te d'lvoire). In * water carriers in Bamako and Port-au-Prince principle, the existence of the formal contract (Haiti, where the water market is comparable to should protect them from expropriation of their those in African cities), investment, but the situation varies in practice. * handcarters in Ouagadougou and Conakry, * Unlicensed household water resellers are not * donkey or horse-pulled carts in Nouakchott, seen as professionals, although they do provide Dakar, and Bamako, water to a major share of the market in three * flexible plastic tubing from a neighbor's house in cities (Conakry, Cotonou, Nairobi, Abidjan). Abidjan and Nouakchott, Water resellers extend the effective coverage * water tank trucks in Port-au-Prince, Dar es of the piped network, but carriers and carters are Salaam, Nouakchott and Nairobi. often the only water suppliers that reach the urban But many poor families prefer to fetch their fringe. Many settlement areas at the urban fringe, own water at the point of sale-standpipe, neigh- in difficult terrain (steep hillsides and valleys), and bor with a household connection, well, or borehole in undeveloped infill areas, are located far from the who resells water-in order to get it at a lower price. piped water network. Many residents of these areas would need to walk several hundred meters or even The Role of Standpipes several kilometers to fetch water, and this gives rise Since most standpipe users are from low-income to a strong market for door-to-door delivery. households, the role of standpipes is a good indicator of the city water company's service Door-to-door Delivery strategy. ONEA in Ouagadougou and SONELEC In cities such as Nouakchott, Ouagadougou, and in Nouakchott distribute a major share of their Bobo Dioulasso, more than 80 percent of waters water through standpipes, while the amount thus sold at standpipes is bought by carters and not by distributed is marginal for SBEE in Cotonou and individuals. Rather than lines of young women SEEG in Conakry (see figure 4.21. In Dakar, the waiting their turn at the standpipes, as seen in rural share of water distributed by standpipe is rela- areas, in the urban areas, it is groups of hand- tively low but because there are many standpipes carters and men with carts pulled by donkeys or (nearly 1,300) and many households have horses who compete for places in line at the stand- individual connections, standpipes serve half of the pipe. These carters then deliver water door to door. households without connections. Home-delivered water is more expensive than that purchased at the standpipe, so why are so Water Resellers, Carriers and Carters many families taking home delivery? Several The most popular resale outlet is the standpipe, but factors explain the rapid growth of this type of individual households with connections also resell service in the urban areas surveyed, as compared water. This is done illicitly but with tacit approval to rural areas where it is minimal. except in C6te d'lvoire, where SODECI has * Household accounts are much more monetized instituted a unique policy of licensing a few in urban areas. Income and expenditures are hundred connected households as resellers. handled with money payments and households In terms of contractual relationships between do not have substantial in-kind income or reserves the water resellers and the water-producing in the form of farm produce, grain or animals. concessionaire, resellers fall into three categories: * Walking distances to reach the nearest water * Standpipe vendors are small entrepreneurs who may be considerable in some marginal urban operate a standpipe installed by the city water areas where poor households settle because 21 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES they did not have to purchase occupancy rights. Independent providers are called on to offer In rural areas, no village would be located far the whole range of services, from high-volume, from water. high-income customers to the poorest of the poor, * The volume and density of demand offer the who buy as little as they must after having private carters a steady income in this delivery exhausted all the free sources (illegal taps or specialty, though with a lower level of sales simple leakage from the piped system, wells, during the rainy seasons when drinking water rainwater, rivers or streams). While high-income can be collected freely. customers will eventually be connected to the The tendency to rely on carters represents a piped network, because they can afford it and radical departure from rural practices in another because they will use their political influence to see way: in poor rural families, there is always that the network reaches them, residents of illegal someone available (often young women and settlements most likely will not. Though the children) who can be sent to fetch water. In the spreading peri-urban areas house a growing city, paid work opportunities are much more share of urban residents, these residents will need available and poor families often prefer to have to rely on independent water providers for many their water delivered so that everyone in the family years to come. can be out earning money. The growing popularity of home water delivery 4.6 How the Water Market Works is probably one of the factors that has led to the abandonment of hand water pumps in the large Figure 4.3 summarizes schematically the sources of cities. The carters want to fill their 200-liter barrels water production and the diversity of water distri- quickly, even if at greater cost, rather than bution to low-income residents of Africa's big cities. spending time pumping this much water by hand. Another important clientele for the carters and water tank truckers is middle- and upper-income households who are not getting the water they need from the piped network, either because the network has not reached their area or because there are frequent service interruptions. 4.5 Many Niches, Many Operators It is easier for independent private operators to offer a wide variety of services adapted to diverse consumer needs because they are free of the contract conditions facing the city-wide water companies, conditions based on an industrialized city model. Private operators are free to serve low- income residents who are the designated target population of the Water and Sanitation Program, along with middle- and upper-income house- holds-whose homes, including luxury villas, may be located in areas beyond the piped network. In fact, a good part of the independent providers' income comes from more prosperous households; high-income families are the principal clientele of the water truckers in Nairobi, who also charge quite high prices. 22 lin areas servec by city water mains or smal local networks In peri-ur an and other areas not reachec by piped water7 Mil ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~z City water mains e Borehole-fed small water > z ~~network >z < I | du _ 17 Publ~pic Private I household household stand- stand- SWell Spring River connectic n conne ctio pip Springo Standpipe manager Borehole L L L t +handpump J Some households > sell water from . _ . ) . / sources they own Middle- and high- -income households Middle- and high ry low-income income households fetch water from income households households without are connected to the standpipe or neighbor receive door-to- access to Cit water city mains and pay for it door delivery draw water from I I I I I I I ~~~~~~~~~~~~mostly free sources 1 1 (20 to 80 %) (I10 to 30 %) (5 to 50 %) 5 to 30 %) Reseller of household tap water Handcarters and animal-drawn carts CFt Figure 4.3. From source to household: How the water market works in African cities. INDEPENDENT WATER AND SAN TAT ON PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES 5. How Sanitation Services Are Delivered Most households in African cities-70 to 90 percent overall, and virtually all poor house- holds-deal with their own waste by building their own latrines or septic tanks or hiring others to do 7 LO it. Since the public sector is generally not involved . X in this area, private providers dominate the market c and offer services tailored to customers' needs and 2 S U E c incomes,for the tasks that households choose not 0 Z carry out themselves: masons who build latrines, Figure 5.1 Percent of households served by public manual latrine pit cleaners, suction truck operators sanitation networks in ten African cities. for septic tanks, and manual or mechanized drain and latrine ditch cleaning services. Such indepen- For their part, African urban residents dent providers were the focus of the city surveys seemed to have accepted the idea that no public for this study, which does not directly cover solid sanitation solutions are likely to arrive any time in waste collection or rainwater drainage. the fore-seeable future. While they clamor for better public water service, and expect their 5.1 Self-help Sanitation elected representatives to press for it, there is little public outcry about the lack of adequate city-wide Limited public sewerage systems are in operation public sanitation. in nine of the ten cities, but only in Abidjan, Nairobi, Dakar, and Conakry do they serve more 5.2 Sanitation Options for Every House- than 10 percent of households. In Abidjan, the city hoId Budget with the highest coverage, 45 percent of house- holds are connected (see figure 5.1 for public In African cities, households have adopted one of sewerage coverage). In contrast to water supply, several basic solutions to the problem of disposing none of these public sewer operators has-or is of human waste at the household level, depending interested in claiming-a monopoly, even in on the physical conditions and on how much Dakar, where the National Sanitation Office money they can spend for construction and (ONAS) could well extend coverage. They know periodic cleaning. The solutions range from a all too well the low profitability of the systems they simple pit or ditch, lined or unlined, with or operate and are only too happy to see most without a platform slab, to a water closet with households take care of their own needs. 24 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES provision for flushing with a soak pit for the waste up, they can be closed and a new one dug, or water, or, at the high end of the market, a two- emptied and the waste buried on the some lot. stage lined septic tank (see table 5.1 for technical But in denser areas (more than 300 persons details and costs). There are independent provid- per hectare), on-site reburial becomes difficult and ers active in the construction and upkeep of these another disposal site must be found. Manual sanitation systems, as basic or sophisticated as the cleaners usually find a place to dump or bury waste client demands. nearby; the advantage of suction trucks is that they * In peri-urban areas of larger cities, households can transport waste beyond the edge of the city. organize family manual labor to dig new However, since there are few authorized dumps, latrine pits or ditches, dig out the sludge when the untreated sludge ends up dumped into ravines full, and either rebury it or simply dig another and low-lying areas. Only in Bamako did the survey pit when lot size permits. find sludge used to fertilize agricultural sites. * In denser low-income areas, often closer to The disposal of septic waste represents a downtown, latrine pits are generally not lined serious environmental problem in all ten cities. and liquid waste is absorbed through the earth Only in Cotonou has a sludge treatment plant walls, leaving a compact mass that is generally been opened, as a private business venture, and removed with a pick and shovel. Many families while it is expanding as fast as it can, the plant still hire manual cleaners (in Dakar, they are called operates on far too small a scale to handle the boye pelle or old shovel man), who charge a city's entire sludge production. In other cities hefty sum to empty a pit (US$ 15-25). They bury surveyed (Dakar, Kampala, and Abidjan), dump the waste on the lot or wherever they can, at sites have been officially designated, which at times risking disputes with the owners of lots least encourages dumping in less environmentally where the waste ends up, or from the city sensitive areas (such as into the sea near Dakar), authorities. Only in Nairobi did the survey but there is no attempt at appropriate treatment at consultant observe hired manual cleaners who these sites. Two cites-Bamako and Ouaga- carted the septic waste to disposal sites at some dougou-have designated no suitable dump sites. distance from the work site, due to the high More disturbingly, the inadequacy of these dispo- population density of the Kibera slum area sal solutions seems of little concern to either urban where they were working. residents-even those living near the designated * In more <> residential areas, the holding sites-nor elected municipal authorities. pits are usually cement-lined and therefore water-tight, so sludge removal is done by 5.4 The Diversity of Independent suction truck and carried off to disposal sites- Sanitation Providers a less odiferous but more expensive solution. Lined pits must be emptied more frequently (in Independent sanitation providers offer a range of some cities, once or twice a year) at US$20 to services tailored to individual households' needs 60 per visit, so this level of service is affordable and incomes. They may also carry out clearing of to middle- and high-income households. municipal roadside and stormwater drains. This type of work can constitute an important market 5.3 Septage Disposal and Treatment: for some small enterprises, whether they use Environmental Alert suction trucks or manual labor, but work for the municipality also means bidding for public works Households are satisfied with these on-site contracts, which has its drawbacks. The formal household sanitation facilities and find them bidding process takes time and requires paper- affordable even at the lowest levels of income. work, and the selection process is not always They are probably the most appropriate solution transparent. for urban areas where there are fewer than 300 Both household and municipal work is subject persons per hectare, as in many towns and to wide seasonal fluctuations, peaking during the recently settled peri-urban areas. When the pits fill rainy season, when many pits and drains overflow 25 Table 5.1. Household sanitation options in African cities Option Clientele Construction Maintenance ,'i cost (US$) Procedure Frequency Annual cost ol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(US$) 1. Unlined pit The pit is dug by hand and is unlined, the opening Residents of rural When plot size is large enough, Cleaned or $10 (for covered with boards. It is used for human wastes, and peri-urban $30-60 pits may be closed off when full new pit dug hired hand; wastewater, and organic garbage. areas where plots and another pit dug elsewhere on every two otherwise are relatively large. the plot. Work is done by family years. not members or a hired hand. monetized) 2. Unlined latrine with platform and soakpit An unlined pit is equipped with a cement platform, Residents of peri- A manual cleaner is hired to dig Manual which may have a manhole cover. The soakpit is dug urban areas, $50-l 00 out the solids compacted at the cleaner hired $15-20 separately to receive wastewater and filled with large where plot size bottom of the pit. If the soakpit fills every year or stones to prevent collapse. permits. up, either family labor or a every two cleaner is hired to empty it out. years. 3. Lined latrine with platform The pit is lined and waterproof. Often used for Residents of urban The pit fills quickly with liquid Suction truck $30-50 wastewater as well as human waste, it fills up fairly areas, where small $150-300 effluent and its cleaning is once or twice quickly. When regularly cleaned, this type of pit plots require generally carried out by a suction a year, plus minimizes pollution. reusable pits. truck. Compacted solids may need manual to be dug out by a hired manual cleaner every cleaner. two years. R 4. Latrine or toilet + lined pit linked to soakpit When a lined pit is linked to a soakpit for liquid Residents of urban The pit fills with fairly liquid Suction truck overflow, the frequency of cleaning is reduced. areas. $300-800 effluent and its cleaning is once a year, $30-50 generally carried out by a suction plus manual Public buildings truck. Compacted solids may need cleaner every z (schools, offices) to be dug out by a manual two years. cleaner, possib[y hired from the z trucker's staff. V- 5. Septic tank + grease trap + soakpit /filtering trench An effective septic tank system includes at least two Residents of high- The grease trap is manually Grease trap 9 linked compartments. Waste passes first through a income housing $800-3,000 cleaned on a regular basis. The cleaned $15-25 filter which traps solids and greases, and liquid (villas), septic tank can be cleaned only by regularly, overflow passes into a separate soakpit. This system Unaffordable to suction truck because it generally septic tank can be said to be self purifying. most households. lacks access by manhole. every 3-5 z years. INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES due to heavy rainfall. Work falls off during the dry themselves. Households wishing to take advantage season, and enterprises turn to other types of of the program, which subsidizes 20 to 30 percent work, such as water carrying or construction work. of the construction cost, must hire masons regis- tered with the water company. In this way, partici- Septic tank cleaning services pating masons have embarked on a new commer- These providers pump sludge out of lined latrine cial strategy based on an innovative product. pits and septic tanks using suction trucks of 6 to 10 cubic meter capacity. Most of their vehicles are Toilet and shower operators purchased second-hand from Europe for about Public toilet facilities may be found in most large US$25,000, a quarter of the price of a new public gathering places such as train stations, vehicle. There are about ten such providers in each markets, stadiums, and universities. When these of the cities surveyed, each owning fewer than half are operated by municipal staff, they are often a dozen trucks. They are licensed enterprises whose poorly maintained or even abandoned. In the registration and insurance documents are regularly larger cities, authorities have chosen to entrust checked by national or municipal police officers. their management to independent private opera- Most of these enterprises also offer other types tors, who are responsible for paying the facility's of sanitation, construction, or transport services, water bill, as in the case of private management of such as delivering water to construction sites, city standpipes. which helps them to keep their businesses going during the dry season, when demand for tank Small-bore sewerage pumping is slow. Small-bore sewerage systems are rare in African cities, in contrast to the situation in Latin America. Manual cleaning services A single example of such a system was found by Pick and shovel work is an unpleasant and the consultant in Bamako and it seemed to have unsanitary trade, generally practiced by young been created more as a community-based men from the same neighborhood. They generally environmental improvement project rather than as work in pairs, with one doing the digging out and an entrepreneurial response to market demand. the other hauling the waste, using simple tools (shovel, bucket, rope) and generally without 5.5 How the Sanitation Market Works protective clothing. Manual cleaning is the most common means of Figure 5.2 summarizes schematically the options maintaining household facilities and is often the offered by independent providers of sanitation only way to deal with latrine sludge in many services to low-income residents and other unserviced areas, where roads are too narrow for customers in Africa's big cities. trucks and where unlined septic pits accumulate dense, dried out waste material that is not suited to mechanical cleaning. Latrine construction Masons who build latrines do not generally specialize in this work. Most masons who build houses can also build a latrine at the same time, unless the household chooses simply to dig a ditch. There is an interesting exception in Ouagadougou, where the water company launched an ambitious program to upgrade household sanitation facilities. By specializing in the construction of the new latrine design which the water company is promoting, a group of masons has created a new market niche for 27 City center __ Peri-urban and illegal Cy centr -settlements Public buildings Villas Permanent houses Temporary building t'i (schools, offices) High-income Miccle-income householcds materials / low-income co < , householcds (5 - 70 %) (30 - 70 %j households /30 - 50 %i Pipe High-capacity septic system d a HUusehold septic tane Lined S ousehold septic sewerage (I 10 to 50 m3) or septic systems wih permeable masonry and wastewater pit svstem High-capacity septic tank + and tanks (8 rieng (may have soakp)t) with without _ \ S ~soakpit \to 15 m3 ) \ platform platform Cit sewerage service Priat Manu Self-help family PipeF Suction trucks suction m et ic s. F trucks / ~~~~cleaners > f Wastewater ): Regulated septic disposal Unreglulated dumping Sludge buried XZ: treatment plant (untreated sludige) (norvr, lake, sea) on-site Figure 5.2. From downtown to urban fringe: How tke sanitation market works in African cities. INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN C T ES 6. Water and Sanitation Occupations The wide variety of water and sanitation providers Standpipe operator-managers (fontainiers) indicated in the previous two chapters has evolved There are now many standpipe operator-manag- to fill specific market niches. Depending on the ers in Africa-1,300 in Dakar and 700 in economic and institutional context if individual Bamako-but this is a relatively recent occupation, cities, some trades may play a more important role since standpipe water was originally free of and others less so. There are number of them charge. The rapid growth of the urban population which are found in all ten cities and are the main and the monetization of economic transactions led providers of water and sanitation services to low- to their conversion into water sale points. In all ten income areas. These major players are described countries, the historic evolution has followed the here in terms of their clientele, commercial same path. strategy, technical means and earnings. * In an initial phase, the public had free and direct access to the standpipes and there were 6.1 Water Occupations no operators or managers. Such a system remains in operation only in Sao Tome. Table 6.1 summarizes the presence and impor- Standpipe service ceased to be free once urban tance of independent water providers in the ten populations exceeded 5 percent of a country's African cities studied. Standpipe operators are total population and the cost of free urban water fairly numerous in five of the ten cities, resellers of became too onerous for government budgets. home water are numerous and tolerated in nine * In the next phase, standpipes were gradually cities, and hand carters or carters using animal abandoned (as in Benin and Haiti) or handed traction are numerous in eight cities. There are over to municipal authorities who were sup- many water truckers in four cities, and some posed to recover the costs of water through independent water producers (well and borehole taxes or resale through standpipe operators. operators) may be found in six cities. A few small Such a system remains in operation in Cape network operators are found in three cities, some Verde but has disappeared elsewhere. Most of whom manage networks they financed them- municipalities found it much too difficult to selves and others who manage installations that organize water sales and recoup sufficient funds were built with external aid. The city network has to pay the water bills, so the service was been extended by private investment in three other suspended for lack of payment. cities, mostly by housing developers. * In the current phase, standpipe service has been contracted to private operators over the past five 29 Table 6.1 Presence and importance of independent water providers in ten African cities. Type of Cotonou Ouagladougou Abidjan (C6te Conakry Nairobi Bamako Nouakchott Dakar Dar es Kcmal operator (Burkina Faso) dilvoire) (Guinea) (Mauritania) Salaam (Ugana (Benin) (Kenya) (Mali) (Senegal) (Tanzania) CO Reseller of Numerous Numerous but Numerous and Very nume- Numerous and Numerous but Numerous Considered to be Numerous and Nmrubt CD home water and little documented. tolerated rous,welcome tolerated little but little few in number. tolerated othgl (informal tolerated because few supplement to because few documented, documented, because few visibe standpipe( because few city standpipes. few city city standpipes. city standpipes. city standpipes standpipes. Operator of City stand- Many i'n service; A few coin- Few in service Few in service. Fairly Fairly Many in service Terms of Fairl ue city standpipe ppes no distribute 35% of aperated ones. (1 20); Far outstripped numerous numerous. (1,000), despite concession rous mr rlonger in city water. Distribute little supplemented in sales by (700) and Distribute 20 wide-spread unclear than 500), service, water, by many home home resellers, growing in % of city home connection terms of resellers, number water. (6.5/100 pop.) concession Ut- 1 5/year) clear. Water caffier Some Dogon women active. Fading out. Handcarter A few. Many (7,000). Rare. Numerous Numerous Numerous Rare. Rare. Numerous. Numeosue bicycles. Donkey- or A few. A few. A few. Many Many Many horse-cart er Water trucker Many; supply Many; supply Many; supply Many;spl private cisterns all peri-urban private cisterns private cisterns of well-to-do. areas, of well-to-do, of well-to-do. Well operator Found in some Found in some Found in some neighborhoods; neighborhoods; neighborhoods; seasonal activity. seasonal activity. ,easonal activity.a ..... . . .. . .. -. .. . . .. . .. . . . . .. . . .. . . .. . .. .. .. . 1 I - .1 1. .. . .. . ... . .. ... . ... . . .. . .. . ... . .. . 1-- _ - .. ... .. .. .. . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. .. . . .. . . .. . . . . .. . . - . . ... . ...... . .. . . . -... . .. . - 1 I I . .. . .. . . .. . . Borehole Supply small Supply many Supply six small Supply many Supply many Suppi w operator networks (KN or water truckers. networks (AEPSI water water truckers, small1 networks. autonomous truckers. standpipes RNEA ... ... .. ... . . .. ... . - - ........ ... ... ..... . . .. ... ... .. ...... .. ... .. ...... .. ... ... .. ...... .. ...... .. ... ..... ... ... .. ... ... . ... .. Small Many PEAs S'ix AEPS, one At les w network installed during privately inde ndn operator drought, some mngd e now connected to homeo city network. connections. ................ ....- .............. ...................... ..................... . ....... ......................... .......S e v e ral....c a s es.. Operators of Numerous. Numerous. NumerousSe mini-network Some Some exten- extensions to foun inp - extensions of extension up sions up to 3 supply 1 or 2 urbanaes city network to 3 km in km in length. standpipes. length. Major sources shown in 6old. Blank cells =not found INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES to 15 years in the ten countries surveyed, and equipment and infrastructure necessary to this has allowed reactivation of abandoned distribute the water and in some cases this can standpipes and the construction of new ones. add up to substantial sums (Cotonou, AbidjanJ. From a commercial point of view, there is an They are among private investors who contribute important distinction to be made between substantially to secondary and tertiary water * publicly constructed equipment whose manage- distribution infrastructure. For example, in Dakar, ment is contracted to a fontainier, ofen a local private investment in water infrastructure amounts public figure selected by the municipal authori- to 50 to 80 km a year, or more than half that built ties for his standing in the community rather by the concessionaire. than his management ability, who operates the Water tariff policies are unfavorable for resel- standpipe as a kind of sinecure. lers. In Cotonou and Abidjan, most resellers are * equipment constructed with private financing, billed according to the standard progressive possibly on public land, and connected to the tariffs, which rise steeply as volume of water con- public mains, at the initiative of an independent sumed increases. This penalizes the resellers and the provider who plans to make a profit from his low-income families to who are their customers. investment and expand its service. Most water resold from homes is from the Both types of standpipes may coexist in the concessionaire's mains, but there is also some same city, as in Dakar and Abidjan, and the resale of privately produced water from wells. In contrast is striking between the dynamism of the the past, well water was not a commodity to be privately managed ones and the passivity of the sold. Neighbors could ask to use another's well others, whose operators were chosen under less and it would have been a serious violation of than transparent conditions. Annex table A.1 gives social reciprocity to have refused such a request. details of operating costs and revenues for two The surveys carried out for this study indicated that publicly constructed standpipes in Ouagadougou the current situation is quite different. During the and a privately constructed one in Dakar. dry season, many families sell the water from their wells and some even stock water in barrels for Water Resellers resale to handcarters. There are many households with individual connections who resell water from their homes. Carriers and Carters This practice is sometimes officially prohibited, as There are three types of non-motorized door-to- in Dakar and Bamako, but the prohibition is not door water delivery. generally enforced. In Cotonou, Conakry and * Water bearers, who carry buckets or basins of Nairobi, it is tolerated or actively encouraged, and water by hand and earn very little money for the concessionaires appear to have given up on their trouble, are disappearing from the streets the notion of setting up a viable standpipe system. of African cities but are still common in very Abidjan is a special case, where SODECI has low-income cities such as Port-au-Prince in Haiti, formally licensed about 700 households for the where conditions are similar to the African cities resale of home water to those in neighboring studied for this report. Their dwindling numbers areas that are not reached by the water network. in African cities is an encouraging index of These operators generally serve a limited economic development since they are being number of households in the surrounding area, no replaced by more efficient carters. more than a hundred. Resellers' clientele is more * Hand carters, who pull or push carts that can extensive in cities like Cotonou and Conakry, hold 100 to 200 liters of water, are particularly where the concessionaire's coverage is most common in Ouagadougou and Conakry. The limited. But home water resale also takes place in prices charged by door-to-door carters are cities where city-wide coverage is relatively good, affordable to a steady clientele that is relatively as in Abidjan, because every city contains areas well off, but even the poorest families may get that lie beyond the concessionaire's reach. their water this way (rather than fetching it The resellers invest their own money in the themselves) when the time savings can be used 31 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES A group of young people managing a standpipe in Dakar A group of 30 young people from the Fcnss Delorme neighborhood in Dakar got together and created a cultural association. In order to earn money, they built a standpipe with funds put up by a local leader and had it connected to the water company mains. The group's members take turns manning the standpipe and invest most of their profits in equipment they use to start other money- making ventures (sound system, video camera). Madame Kabor6, a hand carter in Ouagadougou For the past four years, Madame Kabore, who is 37 years old and mother of four children, has worked 12 hours a day as a hand carter. Her husband bought her the cart with his own money. She buys water at US$0.10 for a 200-liter barrel and sells at three or four times cost (200 to 300 percent markup). She sells on average seven barrels a day, which brings in about US$2 a day, enough to feed her fomily. Sidi Ould Amor, owner-operator of a donkey cart in Nouakchott Sidi, now 25 and a bachelor, arrived in the city five years ago and started work as a hired cart driver, a job his uncle found for him. In 1997, he was able to buy his own cart with a loan that has since been repaid. He spends six months of the year delivering water in the city, and returns to his village during the other half of the year in order to plow his fields and help other migrants do the same. While in the city, he shares rented accommodations with other carters from the some region. Private Network Investment in Dakar cnd Operators in Kampala In Dakar, more than half the water distribution network has been built by independent private land developers. Their private investment is automatically transferred to the national water authority, SONES, with a promise of compensation. In Kampala, private standpipe operators are managing small networks with several standpipes serving an entire peri-urbon community, under contract to the water users' association that invested in network extension. Because the water corporation, NWSC, discourages such extensions, five wholly freestanding borehole networks have been built by Kalebu Limits, founded by an engineer and his wife, a marketing speciolist. Stkrting with a single network, fed by water pumped from a well with an electric motor, they financed the second one from the profits on the first. The company also manages a group of eight coin-operated standpipes connected to the city network. to earn money away from home. (US$0.30 to 1.00). Nonetheless, this type of * Carters using animal traction, who have a cart service is much appreciated by households of all plus a donkey (in Nouakchott) or a horse (in income levels, and its price is determined in a Dakar) to pull it, can to transport up to 500 liters highly competitive market and accurately reflects of water. They are found primarily in the cities of the convenience of buying in small quantities (4 to the Sahel (Bamako, Dakar, Nouakchott), where 20 liters a day per household member), the time there is a ready supply of these animals and saving of having the water brought to the home where they are not endangered by the tsetse fly. (which can have a monetary value), and the Water delivered door-to-door costs more than higher operating costs of transport by cart (the water from a household connection or from a carter's investment and his labor). See Annex table standpipe: from US$2 to 6 per cubic meter, about A.2 for details of five carters' operating accounts four times as much as water fetched from a in four cities. standpipe (US$0.60 to 1.50 per cubic mieter) or Even at these prices, the surveys indicate that a six times as much as water from a home lap household's water expenses remain at from 1 to 3 32 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES percent of their income, and the carters' daily Annex table A.4 gives details of operating earnings are kept low by competition-no more costs for six private and small network operators in than US$2 to 3 a day. The surveys carried out for six cities. this study found no evidence of low-income households paying more than 10 percent of their 6.2 Sanitation Occupations income for water, as has been reported in the press. Thus the water is affordable and there is no Table 6.2 summarizes the presence and impor- need to mandate lower water prices, which would tance of independent sanitation providers in the have the effect of driving the carters out of ten African cities studied. Manual latrine cleaners business and forcing households to carry their own and suction truckers are well organized and water at much greater time cost. widespread in all ten cities. Privately toilet Water Truckers operators are successful in five of ten cities. One Water truckers supply mostly high-volume water city has a successful private septic waste treatment facility whose owner has worked successfully with consumers with cisterns (private villas, government municipal and national policy makers to improve and business office buildings). The market for the regulatory framework. water trucking services is most developed in cities where the concessionaire's level of service is Public Toilet Operators poor-long cutoff periods and many unserved In most African cities, most city-operated public areas, as in Nairobi, Nouakchott, Dar es Salaam, toilets have fallen into disrepair or have been and Kampala-and less so in cities where the abandoned due to lack of maintenance. These primary water mains reach most of the settled facilities are coming back into use now, as area, as in Dakar and Abidjan. municipal authorities allow independent operators Purchase of a water tanker truck, even a to take the risk of rehabilitating them and reopen second-hand one, is a major investment, but may them on a pay-per-use basis. The operator may be recouped within a year's time, especially in the lease an existing public facility or may be a true East African cities where demand for alternatives concessionaire, investing his own funds to to piped water is strong. Annex table A.3 gives construct new private facilities, as in Bamako and annual operating details for water truckers in Abidjan. These small enterprises are able to offer Nouakchott, Nairobi, and Kampala. a large range of services in response to user demand: toilets, showers, drinking water sales, Small Water Networks and even tables where coffee and tea are served. In most African capital cities, there are some small annex table s deti of annua operatin secondary water networks operated by indepen- Antfo two publi details of annual operatsing dent rovidrs. Tese ay beconneted t the accounts for two public toilet facility operators in dent providers. These may be connected to the city Bamko ad Kampla mains or totally independent from them. * In Nairobi, Cotonou, and Abidjan, there are Manual Cleaning Services small water networks hooked up to the city Outside of Abidjan, Nairobi and Dakar, public mains that supply water to towns or urban piped sewerage service is available to less than 20 neighborhoods where public standpipe service percent of urban households. Households are on is scarce or non-existent. their own for the disposal of human waste and * In Kampala, Ouagadougou, Bamako, and most dig the pits and empty them with family labor Nairobi, there are private water networks that or hire one of the hundreds of manual cleaners are totally separate from the city network. This is (called baye pelle or <(old shovel man>> in Dakar). a new development in African cities (within the These workers usually hire out to people they last five years), since, unlike the situation in Latin know, living within a few hundred meters of their America, the law in African countries ofen own home. This work may be one of a number of reserves underground water rights as the ways in which they earn money and they are not exclusive privilege of state authorities. eager to discuss it as it is not a prestigious 33 Table 6.2 Presence and importance of independent sanitation providers in ten African cities Type of Cotonou Ouagadougou Abidjan (C6te Conakry Nairobi Bamako Nouakchott Dakar Dar es Kampala operator (Burkina Faso) d'lvoire) (Guinea) (Mauritania) Salaam (Uganda) (Benin) (Kenya) (Mali) (Senegal) (Tanzania) Manual Most widespread form of service, used by most low-income families. Distinction between self-help family labor and of paid latrine cleaners sometimes blurred. latrine cleaner Mechanized Some NGO 'Mini-Spiros" Simplified manual experiments. (mini-suction handpumps latrine trucks) and carts. cleaners Suction Well-organized Well-organized Well-organized Well-organized Well-organized Well-organized Well-organized Well-organized Well-organized Well-organized truckers market; single market. Service market. Service market. One market. Service market. Service market. Service market. Service market. Service market. Service fee structure standards. standards. dominant standards. standards. standards. standards. standards. standards. and syndicate 80% private. 90% private. operator (SPTD) 80% private. 80% private. 100% private. 90% private. Mostly private. Mosdy private. Septic waste Private One lagoon in treatment treatment Rifisque for facility using waste from a logunage. mini-network. Mini- undocumented undocumented undocumented undocumented undocumented At least one Dakar is only sewerage mini-network city with an network installed by extended sewer- NGO. age network. 2 Privately A few. Well organized Well organized Fairly Well organized undocumented Fairly operated at train and at train and numerous. at train and numerous. 7 public toilets bus stafions, bus stafions, bus stations, z markets. markets. markets. Latrine Encouraged by Generally carried out by masons with no specialized training as part of home construction. builder licensing requirement of Sanitation Plan . ... . z~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...... Latrine One innovative undocumented undocumented Very undocumented undocumented undocumented undocumented undocumented undocumented clatform artisanal numerous, < builders enterprise. dynamic, and innovative. 2 ......... ..... .. .......... . . . ..... ................ . .. . . . . .. .. .. .. .. . City drain Organized by public authorities, often municipal ones. When subcontracted through public works contracts, offers important potential market for private operators > and culvert Z cleaning Major sources shown in bold. Blank cells = not found. INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES occupation. Its low social status may explain why be endured and of a more difficult disposal so little has been published about this type of problem, The trucks can carry the sludge farther worker, though they do the lion's share of the pick- away, while manual cleaners will seek to bury the and-shovel work. Annex table A.6 gives details of waste as near as possible, risking complaints from annual operating accounts for three manual latrine the neighbors. cleaners in three cities. These businesses are all operating in the formal sector because they must register their Suction Truckers vehicles with the authorities, and this makes them Suction truckers clean latrine and septic pits for 10 easier to study. This is why some sanitation sector to 1 5 percent of households in the two cities studies cover only this type of service and not the studied, mostly relatively well-off households. The manual cleaners, who nonetheless do the lion's cost is not much more than that of manual share of the work. The suction truckers use their cleaning (US$30-60 for 6 to 10 cubic meters), but vehicles for other types of transport during the these households, who have invested in cement- slow period of work during the dry season. Annex lined pits, prefer to avoid the double nuisance of a table A.7 gives details of annual operating longer cleaning period when the pit's odors must accounts for seven suction truckers in six cities. In Dakar's Fass Delorme district, a two-man pick-and-shovel team Teamwork lightens the workload for this pair, whose regular customers include about a thousand residents clustered around the hundred-odd courtyards of this small district, plus the occasional client from outside who has heard about their work by word of mouth. They also do some drain cleaning as a sideline, and do a lot of business repairing caved-in or damaged latrines. Clients hire them for two types of service: annual pit emptying for about CFAF 15,000 for an 8 cubic meter pit, or a partial digout for CFAF 3,000 every two or three months. Waste is generally reburied on-site, if there is room and the courtyard is unpaved, or in the roadway nearby, which gives rise to protests from the neighbors and sometimes a visit from the municipal sanitation authorities. But this pair usually escapes any penalty by taking the fellows out for a drink. In Bamoko, an economic interest group (GIE) operates two suction trucks The Sema Saniya GIE operates a number of sanitation business ventures. They began with the collection and sorting of household waste for resale and recycling and then added the sale of trash cans, operation of a public toilet and shower facility at the main troin station, and septic and latrine pit emptying. In July 1995, they bought a second-hand suction truck with a CFAF 10 million grant from ACCT (Cultural and Technical Cooperation Agency) . Within two years, the success of this operation convinced them to buy a second truck, using CFAF 6 million of their own earnings and a CFAF 5 million loan from BMCD (Malian Bank of Development Credit), which they reimbursed within a year. Business is still booming and there are plans for the purchase of a third truck in 1 999. Sema Saniya's customers are mostly individual households, who pay CFAF 8,500-15,000 in cash for a complete pit emptying; the price varies with the distance the truck must travel. A significant number of clients are referred by agents called coxers (after the English term for coxing a sculling crew) who receive a commission for each successful referral. EMAPROHY, a rapidly expanding suction truck business in Bamako The founder of EMAPROHY started work as a construction worker. Seeing the heavy demand for septic tank cleaning, he bought a suction truck in 1991. He has reinvested his profits and now operates four trucks. Since 1995, he expanded his business into the construction area, which now accounts for two-thirds of his annual turnover. 35 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SAN TATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES Sludge Disposal and Treatment Though proper disposal and treatment of waste from latrines and septic pits is crucial to protect the environment and public health, there is little market demand for this type of service. House- holds are interested only in getting the sludge out of the pit and off the plot, whether two meters or two miles away, and are not inclined to pay cleaners for waste treatment. There are therefore few independent providers who have specialized in such work. Municipal or national public authorities operate sludge dumps and pretreat- ment facilities in Dakar, Abidjan and Kampala, and subsidize the operating losses. Only in Cotonou has a private operator set up a pretreat- ment facility (SIBEAU). Municipal authorities were then able to set fairly rigorous sanitation policy and have also required trucks to dispose of septic sludge at this facility. The operator receives no subsidies and the cost is recovered from the truckers and passed on to households. But there is still some competition from truckers who choose to dump in unauthorized areas. 36 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SAN TATION PROV DERS IN AFRICAN CITIES 7. Operational Characteristics of Independent Providers The portrait of a typical independent provider of other jobs in the city because the initial investment water or sanitation services in a sub-Saharan is low and the market is very open. No evidence African city shows a versatile man, risk and was found in any city studied of any restrictions on publicity averse; capable of raising important entry for those arriving from the country and sums of money when necessary, but without a logo wishing to go into business as water carters. This or a front office. He seeks no loans from the bank, trade is thus often an entry point for new migrants, nor does he pay the city business tax, if he can who retain strong ties with their home villages. avoid it. He can and does cover many bases, Many carters in Nouakchott alternate between depending on what is most profitable today. His work in the city while fields lie fallow, and work in relations with other providers are opportunistic, the fields during the growing season. governed by the practical advantage conferred, with little inclination (at least so far) to control or Standpipe Operator, a Position of Respect restrict the free operation of market forces. He has In contrast to the carters, the standpipe operators just joined, or is thinking about joining, a new are generally much older, long-time city residents. trade association in his city. Frequently they are prominent neighborhood residents who are considered to be honest and 7.1 Soc.alndGeog responsible men and would not otherwise be likely 7.1 Social and Geographic Origins rsos to be granted the standpipe lease. Since income Few Women, Except in Ouagadougou from this activity is steady, reliable, and virtually Few~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~refo camen etitipn it isga o lttesrie tha Water and sanitation trades are practiced by men, free from competition, it is litle surprise tht with the notable exceptian of Ouagadougou, traditional elders and local leaders vie for the where many standpipes and hand carts are honor of holding a standpipe lease. operated by women. This may be traced to the In recent years, standpipes have been leased Sankara era, when it was national policy to to active investors who have the resources to promote the participation of women in all political rehabilitate a standpipe that has fallen into and economic activities. disrepair or to take care of past unpaid water bills left by the previous leasor. Such investors have Many Hand Carters from Rural Areas sometimes taken over several standpipes and the Hand carting of water from door to door is study sought to determine whether this has led to dominated by young men from rural areas who creation of mini-monopolies by individuals with have been in the city for less than ten years. The personal ties to municipal authorities or water work is physically hard but easier to come by than companies. No evidence of such a tendency was 37 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS N AFRICAN CITIES found and the largest such operators identified Financing of Larger Investments operate no more than three or four standpipes. Independent providers serving a larger market niche and more expensive equipment must raise 7.2 Investment Financing larger amounts (US$5,000 to 200,000) in order to purchase vehicles or build small water distribu- Independent operators' ability to raise funds in the tion networks. Since they cannot generally qualify informal sector to finance equipment and infra- for a bank loan, which would require collateral or structure investment is one of their key characteris- security deposit, they will seek contributions from tics. Banks and financial institutions are conspicu- households that will be served by water network ous by their absence in the world of independent extensions, for example, to prefinance the providers, and most enterprises contacted during construction costs, or will pay higher interest rates the surveys have never had occasion to borrow to borrow elsewhere. To keep finance charges money from the banking sector. While this would down, and to minimize the risk of loss through be expected for individuals or very small busi- expropriation of infrastructure, they keep invest- nesses, who lack access to credit because they are ment to a minimum. Though the annual amounts micro-enterprises of the informal sector, it is a bit invested are substantial (on the order of US$30 more surprising for providers holding public sector million a year in the ten cities surveyed), the contracts, such as municipal standpipe operators, impact of this short-term investment is less than or vehicle licenses, such as suction truck owners. In optimal: for proper long-term sector growth, particular, the purchase of a suction truck requires medium-term (two to five years) and long-term a cash investment of US$20,000 to US$40,000. investment in infrastructure built from more permanent materials would be required. Family Savings Put to Work The family is the first source of financing for small 7.3 Strategies for Limiting Risk providers. Most hand carters started work with equipment provided by a father, brother, or Foremost among the concerns of any African maternal uncle who had been living in the city for entrepreneur is protection from the vagaries of the a few years. They are then able to pay back the unpredictable political and economic conditions loan in one to six months from their profits. The found in most countries Icoups d'etat, being sent level of investment required for these very small back home if an immigrant, arbitrary cancellation providers, whose clientele may include a few of signed contracts) in a legal environment where dozen or at most a few hundred households in a legal considerations tend to run a distant second to small area, is on the order of US$50 to 1,000. who you are and who you know. Savings Clubs Minimize Investment Most adults living in the city participate in one or A common response is to limit investment in order more savings clubs or tontines, usually involving to minimize exposure to theft and expropriation. about ten members, each of whom puts a small This strategy is illustrated by the preference of amount into the pot on a weekly or monthly basis. suction truck operators in Bamako, Cotonou and The sum thus gathered goes to each in turn. This Dakar to purchase second-hand vehicles, which financial arrangement is very common in the cost only 20 to 30 percent as much as a new business and service sector because it is a good vehicle but require substantial maintenance costs. way to maximize the leverage of small regular Water resellers use the same strategy when savings with no administrative cost and low risk, extending their unauthorized distribution networks: since the members share a strong bond. The they buy the cheapest possible type of PVC pipes. survey found that many carters using animal Though these break more often and cost a lot more traction use this means to finance the purchase of to maintain than more expensive plastic or metal a new beast of burden. pipes, this type of piping minimizes the loss in the case of uncompensated expropriation or destruc- 38 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES tion by public authorities, as has occurred ties can be purchased and not just water. repeatedly in Abidjan in recent years. As a result, * When construction work is slow, masons, well few small networks have been constructed over the drillers, and small construction contractors will last two years. look for work cleaning latrines and septic pits. * Truckers in Cape Verde will switch to carrying Diversification water only when the price has been driven up Few African entrepreneurs specialize in a single because of severe water shortages. activity, preferring rather to diversify their involve- ment and shift resources to whatever will prove Keep Your Head Down (Stay Quiet, Be Happy) most advantageous. Independent water and Many African entrepreneurs deliberately keep a sanitation providers are no exception to this rule low profile, downplay their successes, and avoid for survival in a volatile economic and political obvious displays of wealth. One company in environment. They strive to avoid becoming locked Nouakchott continued to do business from a back into exclusive relations with a single client in order alley even after it became the leading supplier of to keep their resources working and avoid down solar equipment in Mauritania and even through- time. In addition to being alert to business oppor- out West Africa. A number of suction truckers in tunities, as providers of public services, they must Dakar and Bamako have gone one better-they also respond to shifts in national or municipal water have no office at all, though they handle more and sanitation policy and regulations, and keep than 10 percent of the local market for such abreast of what the city water company is up to. services. Their only publicity is the trucks them- Expecting this kind of entrepreneur to special- selves, which always park near the markets. Such ize in delivery of a single type of public service behavior is not motivated by modesty but rather by means expecting him to increase his exposure to the desire to avoid political or administrative risk, a consideration often overlooked by external abuse, motivated by the jealousy which an obvious investors with a narrow project focus. In fact, the display could attract. format and conception of the typical project is directly opposed to the spirit of enterprise which Stay in the Informal Sector these providers represent. In thin and uncertain The vast majority of operators surveyed have markets, maintaining income means earning as remained in the informal sector. Like 90 percent of many small sums in as many ways as possible. all African entrepreneurs, they have not registered This is particularly true of providers who have their business with the authorities because invested in vehicles. v municipal business taxes can be substantial and • In the dry season, when demand for mecha- the fees are often arbitrarily set, setting the nized septic cleaning is low, owners of suction scene for yet further demands; trucks in Bamako use their vehicles to transport * social security charges must be added to water to construction sites, which are then in ull payrolls even though the benefits they are meant swing. to financed are rarely received. * In the rainy season, when demand for door-to- The only exceptions identified are the suction truck door water delivery is low, hand carters in operators who must register their vehicles, and Dakar switch over to transporting merchandise. enterprises who realized a direct benefit from * During the planting and growing season, taking formal sector status, such as participation in Nouakchott's hand carters work their fields in civil works contracts to clean the drains in Dakar the country, returning to the city to haul water for the meeting of the Organization of African once crops are gathered in. States, and in municipal contracts for septic tank * Plant nursery operators in Dakar take work as service to public buildings in Bamako. manual latrine cleaners and haul the waste to the nursery for fertilizer. * Nairobi's water kiosks strive to function as the corner convenience store where many necessi- 39 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROV DERS IN AFRICAN C[TIES 7.4 Competition and Cooperation Conflict Competition between the different types of In order to better understand the structure of the providers can deteriorate into conflict. At the independent providers' world and the extent of periphery of Nairobi, water carriers' business was their independence from, or dependence on, each threatened by the extension of a community water other, the study sought to define the range of network in an area where they had been provid- relationships among them. They all have dealings ing water. Before giving up this territory to the with the water company or the municipality, but standpipe operators, the water carriers inflicted they may or may not associate with their fellow damage on the newly laid pipes to show their practitioners in the same area and their relation- displeasure. During a severe water shortage in ships range from cooperation to indifference or Ouagadougou, hand carters were forced to go outright hostility. The following six types of from standpipe to standpipe in search of water interaction are proposed as a aid to understand- and did not hesitate to threaten the operators ing and not as a universal typology. physically to make sure they got it. Friendly Competition Business Relationships When individuals are rivals in seeking the same Some operators build and maintain business job, they are said to be in competition. Although relationships as subcontractors, suppliers, or the pick and shovel men, water carriers, and distributors. This occurs, for example, between suction trucks find themselves in this position vis-a- standpipe operators and the plumbers who vis their peers on a daily basis, they are motivated maintain their pumps, and also in water sales. A to develop solidarity and to follow certain self- borehole manager will sell to a trucker who imposed guidelines by their common struggles supplies a cistern manager, who supplies a water with the public authorities. carrier. The survey observed cases where loyalty a In Bamako, water carters tend to come from the over time had created a permanent relationship Gao and Segou regions of the country. They get which lacked only the paper signature to be together at night to tell their stories and receive recognized as a contract. advice from the more experienced among them. Formal contracts were more often drawn up They keep each other posted on the going rates when one operator delegates management they are charging, but there is no price fixing. authority to another, as in the case of the Water Prices are determined on the ground by the Users' Associations in Malian towns, which conditions of supply and demand, in particular contract with a fontainier to operate a standpipe the ever-changing conditions of physical access and pay him a commission based on the volume to the areas being served, of water sold. a In Cotonou, a suction trucker stopped by sand trying to reach a potential client will refer the Cooperative Teamwork client to another trucker who is equipped with Business relationships can extend beyond those of sand tires. In this way, the truckers recognize supplier-subcontractor to true teamwork, in the each others' particular skills and don't seek to interest of increasing both parties' income. The invade each other's market niches. baye pelle of Dakar often act as sales agents for * The lady water resellers of Ouagadougou have certain suction truckers, recommending their been known to pair up to push a cart heavily services to customers in need in exchange for a laden with water. This kind of friendly competi- commission on each successful referral. In tion grows naturally out of the camaraderie of a Cotonou, some news kiosk operators play the group of 10 to 15 women in frequent contact same role. The cooperation works in both around the same standpipe. directions: the truckers will also refer customers to the baye pelle with whom they are associated when the pit waste is too dry and compact for them to pump it. In this way, each partner acts to 40 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROV DERS N AFRICAN CITIES increase the revenue of both. Collusion A similar kind of teamwork exists in the relation- It is a small step from a legitimate cooperative ship between the Water Advisory Unit (CCAEP) in movement to one of economic collusion. Going Mali and the Water Users' Associations in a beyond the protection of common interests, cartels number of towns, to whom CCAEP provides seek total market control, including control over or technical and audit support. Since the associations barriers to entry. While it is natural to expect such pay CCAEP a fee based on the volume of water pressure, it will only succeed to the extent that produced, CCAEP has a financial interest in public authorities give their support. Open entry keeping their equipment in good shape. and competition is the best way to ensure the responsiveness of the service provider; since Professional Association collusion restricts competition and leads to price Though their numbers are still few, more and more fixing, it is detrimental to consumer interests. It is professional and trade associations have begun to one of the legitimate and necessary roles of the be formed as civil society awakes in Africa public sector to protect these interests. following the replacement of autocratic institutions While professional and trade associations by democratic ones in recent years. In the water should be recognized and negotiated with in order and sanitation trades, independent providers have to establish fair conditions for doing business, care established professional and trade associations should be taken not to confer any sort of exclusive primarily as a means of organizing collective status that would tend to encourage cartel-like, action to advocate common interests. Such price-fixing business practices. For example, in organizations have long since been formed by Cotonou, the Union of Septic Cleaners (USV) has public transportation providers and market become a cartel since passage of legislation to vendors. In the water and sanitation services regulate professional practices. It refuses to admit sector, they include new members, maintaining that the treatment * Mali's Union of Water Suppliers (UEAEP-Mali) facility is operating at capacity, and encourages represents Water Users' Associations in 1 6 the authorities to harass truckers who are not Malian towns in discussions with authorities and members. Evidence for price-fixing is seen in the with a para-public entity within the Water high prices for septic cleaning in Cotonou-the Ministry which audits independent providers' highest in all of West Africa-80 or 90 percent accounts (CCAEP, see page 55). higher than in Bamako, though vehicle and fuel * C6te d'lvoire's AREQUAPCI, whose members prices are actually higher in Bamako. are licensed by the water company (SODECI) to The association of water resellers in Abidjan resell water from their home connections in (AREQUAPCI) would like to have similar powers Abidjan's low-income areas, has successfully over the standpipe water market, and have negotiated with SODECI to buy water at the requested authority to approve new standpipe same preferential rate as standpipe operators. locations, in order to protect their market to resell * Benin's Union of Septic Cleaners (USV), whose water from their home connections. But the best members are suction truck owners in Cotonou, proof that an open market serves consumer has successfully lobbied for improved legislation interests is, again, the fact that it is in cities where and permission to open a private sludge standpipes are few that water prices are highest treatment facility using lagoon treatment. (Cotonou, Conakry, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi). * Ouagadougou's Association of Standpipe Managers (KADIOKO) was organized to fight back against the water company's capricious cancellation of contracts and their reassignment. These associations can play a key role in improv- ing professional practices, promoting technical innovation, and integrating private and public service systems. 41 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES 8. Commercial and Pricing Strategies Independent operators set their commercial * standpipe operators in Dakar, Bamako, practices to closely match the needs of their clients, Conakry, Abidjan: US$3 to 4 a day especially their ability to pay. They sell water in a suction truckers in Bamako and Dakar: small quantities, down to a single glass of cold or US$100 a day ice water. They may choose to let their neighbors The intensity of competition keeps the profit buy water on short-term credit. Their prices vary margins down and will continue to do so as long with the availability of water, distance to the piped as the market stays open to competition. Providers network, the season (rainwater scarce or plentiful), who attempted to raise prices would simply lose and willingness to pay for priority service privi- business to others operating at long-run margin leges (a surcharge may advance a client to the cost. For this reason, any policy tending to limit the front of a long line). number of providers does not benefit consumers, since it allows the artificially low number of 8.1 Intense Competifion Keeps Profit operators to raise their prices (oligopoly pricing), Margins Down as in the case of Cotonou's Union of Septic Cleaners (USV). Independent providers are sometimes criticizes by public authorities or NGOs for reaping high 8.2 Individual Connections profits on the backs of their low-income customers. But the surveys carried out for this study found no Running water in the house is a highly desirable evidence to support this view. On the contrary, the service, especially in the big cities, but one out of survey results indicate rather that the market for the reach of many low-income families because of water and sanitation services is extremely the high up-front cost. Individual house connec- competitive and profit margins low. Most opera- tions are the main option offered by the city water tors surveyed earn just enough to maintain and companies, which charge a connection fee com- replace equipment and pay themselves a modest posed of a security deposit (rarely refunded) and wage. Net earnings were found to be on the order the installation charge. The amount involved is a of a few dollars a day, except for suction truckers: substantial sum, amounting to two to five months' * carters using animal traction in Nouakchott and income for an average urban worker (see figure 8. 1) Bamako: US$ 2 to 3 a day The standard billing cycle of two or three * hand carters in Ouagadougou and Bobo months creates an additional problem for low- Dioulasso: US$ 2 to 2.50 a day income households because their fluctuating 42 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES D household connection fee services as well. Water companies in South Africa US$ * GDP per capita are seeking to develop the use of such cards for 250 water purchase, spurred by the need for new 200 payment solutions following the fall of apartheid. 150 Such a system could be a good solution for households lacking regular sources of income, if loo S they could use it to buy water when they have so . S ^ money. If they did not need to have a household o | | i S | . * * 10 | | | water account, there would be no risk of having , 2 9 .° ,> E service suspended for non-payment. A prepaid '. 0 s Eo D card system appears more suited to the needs of a city-wide water company than to independent pro- Figure 8.1 Water connection fee and monthly per capita income in eight African countries. viders, since it requires accurate accounting systems and regular maintenance of sophisticated card- income makes it difficult to pay a large bill, no reading equipment. But it remains to be seen how matter how infrequently. While in principle a flat such systems will actually work and whether they monthly fee, such as used by SEEG in Guinea, can be adapted for use in low-income urban areas. would seem to help, in practice such fees are set too high and exceed the cost of the low volumes of Cross Subsidies water actually used by low-income families. The water tariff systems of the African concession- aires are structured along the same lines, whether Connection subsidies they are run by public or private operators, and Some concessionaires, well aware of the inequality tend to favor a certain degree of cross-subsidy. in access to water resulting from their billing There are important variations from one country to practices-not to speak of the loss of potential another that reflect different national social clients-have introduced a policy of subsidizing policies (see figure 8.2). some household connections with funding support * Unit price increases with the amount consumed, from external donors ("social" connections offered with two, three, or four tariff levels between 5 by SBEE and SdE) or central government funds and 100 cubic meters monthly water consump- created by higher priced water sales to high- tion. High-volume users thus pay more (the income customers (SODECI's Water Development reverse of the situation in Europe) and the Fund). In cities where the network's coverage is surplus is intended to balance out the loss from broad such as Dakar and Abidjan, such policies charging less to lower volume users. favor household connections by those at the . The differential is greatest in Burkina Faso, median income. But these policies are of little help where the rates charged to high-volume consu- to low-income households who live in areas mers are five times those paid by low-volume outside the network coverage area. users, a legacy of the Sankara era. It is least in Furthermore, such connections are generally Guinea, where the rates are practically uniform. reserved for those holding title to the land on Such a tariff structure does not constitute much which they live, automatically excluding residents of a social policy where few low-income families of unauthorized settlements where large numbers actually have house connections, as in Mali and of low-income residents live, especially in Abidjan Benin, or when less than half the high-volume and Nairobi. consumers actually pay their water bills, as in Kenya and Haiti. In Kenya and Benin, the overall Prepayment level of tariffs is quite low (less than US$ 0.50 per Peaymenti sysormte ustringplasticcars withe vcubic meter) and still the cost recovery rate is very magnetic inAfricaformaio stips e blehome vhages low. This type of subsidy thus ends up mostly popular in Africa for paying telephone charges benefiting those middle and high-income water and are beginning to be developed for electricity customr whohe house cnd ncons. customers who have house connections. A3 NDEPENDENT WATER AN~D SANITATIOIN PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES 1 .8 c - Be.n a Surkino Cfe Jaivi,~e E -4--G.iaea -h-- Kenya *Mali -Mmniania _Ugadn8 -e---Senegal 1.6 1 .4 1 .2 0.8 _ _ 0.6 O.A~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0.2a m3/ month 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Figure 8.2. Water tariff structures of nine African water utility companies. Waiter Resale is Penalized by Progressive Tariffs cubic meter). They are able to charge a 50 to 900 In many penl-urban areas and some entire cities percent markup, so that their gross profit amounts (Conakry and Cotonou), resale of household water to 30 to 90 percent of the resale price (see figures supplies a large share of low-income families, 8.3 and 8.4). The highest rates of gross profit (80 because of the scarcity of standpipe service, to 90 percent) ore those of private standpipe Consumers in these areas heavily penalized by the operators in Cotonou and Nairobi, cities where progressive tariff structure, because the more public water service is especially Inadequate water they buy, the higher rate they pay. A good throughout the city and whrere the operators' reseller of household water with many clients can return must cover infrastructure investment to bring sell more than 1 00 cubic meters a month and will the water into urban neighborhoods. In these end up paying the highest water rate, while cases, the "standpipes" may be simple taps near a standpipe operators buy close to the lowest rate. The door or window of an operator's home. impact is greatest in cities where there are few alternatives. Standpipe Water Costs the Consumer Close to the Highest Tariff Rate Consumers who buy at the standpipe are paying 8.3 Standpipe Service about US$ 1 per cubic meter, about the same as Standpipe Operators Make a Good Profit the highest tariff rate paid by high-volume Standpipe operators buy water directly from the consumers in all countries except Burkina Faso water company and generally are charged a (see figure 8.5). This underlines the tendency of prfrnilrate close to the lowest subsidized or cross-subsidy policy to benefit middle-class <> tariff rate (around US$ 0.40 to 0.60 per hueod ihidvda oncin,rte .44 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS JN AFRICAN CITIES * cost of water to standpipe vendor US $/m3 minimum soles price 2.50 ! [ maximum soles price 2.00 1.50 1.00 0 50 Fiur 8.3. rt pi an urb Benin Burkina Faso C6te dilvoire Guinea Kenya Mali Mauritania Uganda 5enegal Figure 8.3. Water rates paid and charged by urban standpipe vendors in nine African countries. 100% . minimum profit margin n maximum profit margin 80% 60% 20% 0% I _: 0 o: o 0 a) U- >>. - C~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~C cnU Figure 8.4. Gross profit margins of standpipe operators in nine African countries. 45 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES than low-income and poor families, who do not only water that is available in these areas. have house connections but buy water at standpipes. Burkina Faso's ONEA is the only water Apparent Problem of Small Change company to set rates to standpipe operators so low Although there is a demand for quantities of water that the final price at the standpipe is well below the light enough to be easily transported by pan or maximum tariff (US$ 0.45 vs. 1.50 per cubic meter) jerrycan on the heads of small children (less than and thus is the only one to serve the poor well. 10 liters), it is difficult to figure out how to charge for it because it should cost less than the smallest coin available (CFAF 5, one ougiya). One may also wonder how water sellers cope with the Higher Prices, Higher Costs multiplicity of containers of varying shapes and , r | 1. 1 1 1 ., ., ~~sizes which are used to carrywater which also The cost of water delivered to the home is higher y than that bought at the standpipe due to the raise the question of how to make change. The transport costs. In all ten cities, water delivered to providers themselves seem not to find it a problem; the home costs between US$2 and 8 per cubic they have had a lot of practice in judging water meter. There is little difference between the unit volumes and coming out ahead in the prices they sale price of hand carters and water tankers, charge while staying on good terms with their probably because of the strong competition customers. Since they are in daily contact with between the two in the provision of certain types of their customers, they are continually adjusting clients, such as construction sites (see figure 8.6). water prices in any case to reflect constantly While some public authorities and concession- changing conditions of supply and demand and aires tend to jump to the conclusion that these their past dealings with their customers. prices are exorbitant and that the water carriers are exploiting their poor customers, in fact strong competition means that the hand carters earn but a meager wage (US$1 to 3 a day). It is also true that home delivery is not a luxury service in cities like Ouagadougou and Nouakchott, where the standpipes serve mostly the hand carters (7,000 of them in Ouagadougou), who then carry water long distances into settlements far from the piped network. This door-to-door service is in fact the US$ perm3 L high-volume water tariff L unit sales price, donkey/horse carts 2.50 * tariff paid by standpipe consumers US$ unit sales price, tanker truck per m3 ui ae rc,tne rc 200 9 8. 1.50 :'1i111l.l g 1- 1g 9 0.50 -' o22 > 3 , D U E o C C D 3 0 Figure 8.5. Unit cost of water to standpipe users and Figure 8.6 Unit sales price of water delivered by animal- high-volume water consumers in ten African countries. drawn carts and tanker trucks in six African countries. 46 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES 9. Advantages and Constraints The main advantages of independent providers Demand-responsive Service to Low-income Households are their ability to respond quickly to changes in In most large African cities, the water concession- demand, to offer services needed by low-income aires neglect certain areas or types of customers, families, to self-finance, and to recover all costs. despite the requirement in their contracts to The main constraints to their expanding and provide city-wide service in exchange for exclusive improving their service levels are a number of rights to water production. Independent providers popular misconceptions about their pricing strate- have demonstrated their ability to overcome the gies and service quality, lack of recognition and barriers cited by the concessionaires in justifying communication with public authorities, absence of their neglect of these areas. policy and regulation in the water and sanitation * Elevation: Independent truckers deliver water to sector, hostile attitude of the city-wide concession- urban areas located above the level of the water aires, lack of access to bank loans, lack of access to mains in Nouakchott, Kampala, and Nairobi. civil works contracts, and insecurity of infrastructure * Flooding: Water resellers in Cotonou and they build on public land and rights-of-way. Abidjan raise their plastic water tubing above the ground in zones subject to flooding and 9.1 Operational Advantages must constantly patrol them. a Illegal settlements: Residents of illegal settlements Independent providers in African cities can in Abidjan, who have no legal tenure to the land * offer flexible, convenient services, perfectly on which they squat, purchase water from water tailored to the needs of a diverse clientele, who resellers in adjacent, legal settlements. are not served by the standard options available * Low sales volume: Carts are happy to sell water from city water companies; in small quantities to households with low and * mobilize investment capital required to built irregular incomes, who consume less than two piped network extensions, mini-networks, and cubic meters of water a month. The cost of sludge treatment stations, and to purchase metering and billing by the concessionaire vehicles and pumping equipment; would exceed the actual cost of water consumed * set fees to recover costs for water services, even by these households. in neighborhoods where this was previously The rigidity of the concessionaires' contracts thought to be difficult; make it difficult for them to match the flexibility of * reinvest their profits in order to expand service the independent providers, who can vary their delivery, prices for distance and other factors and can also 47 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES switch to other kinds of work when demcind falls Cost Recovery off (less demand for water and for latrine cleaning In contrast to the concessionaires who have often services during the dry season). The independent commented on the need for outside financing or providers survive because of this flexibility and subsidies, especially to extend service in low- their responsiveness to demand. They can work income areas (80 percent of household connec- within the limitations of their clients' circumstances, tions in Abidjan are subsidized with donor for example, by adapting their payment require- assistance, independent providers have no choice ments to take into account the daily and weekly but to recover all their costs. They simultaneously variations in income of many poor households. maintain good relations with their clients, includ- The surveys indicate that the customers of ing advancing credit and giving discounts when independent providers are quite satisfied with their warranted, again in contrast to the concession- services. First and foremost, they know they will be aires, who are inclined to cancel water service at able to get water virtually anytime and anywhere, the first late payment. whether or not the concessionaire's service is up or down. Because the sector is very competitive, users 9.2 Refuting Popular Misconceptions know that they have some selection among different vendors and this competition keeps value While the surveys found that users themselves are for money high. Independent providers are also satisfied with the level of service and value for appreciated for their commercial sensitivity to money provided by independent entrepreneurs in client feedback. The user is respected and has no otherwise unserved areas, others have raised difficulty making herself heard if service quality is objections to the involvement of independent not satisfactory. The user is treated as a valued providers in the water and sanitation sector. Their client, is spared administrative hassles, and has criticisms may be summarized as follows: not far to go to be in touch with the neig hborhood 'Water supply has always been a public monopoly." water vendor. "Water resellers charge much more than the city nwater companies." Self-financing "Community systems can by run by the community, DJuring the surveys in the ten African countries wvithout involving private operators who do not covered in the study, several hundred inidependent deserve the fees they charge." providers of all sizes were interviewed and every "Vendors outside the system sell poor quality water." one of them self-financed their start-up with family "Private providers push the public water suppliers funds and their expansion costs with profits. The out of the market." discovery of the scale of infrastructure constructed None of these statements is supported by the by independent providers was one of the big results of this study, and each needs to be reexam- surprises of the study (I100 km a year of water ined to see why it is not valid. distribution network in Dakar financed by land developers, network extensions and household Monopoly Is Not a Guarantee of Quality Service connections in Mauritania, public toilet facilities in In Europe, city water monopolies have emerged Bamako). At every level, profits are reinvested in relatively recently, following a period of 400 years the business: an operator who now manages 20 of evolution and fierce competition. City-wide handcarts started with a single one. The case of a monopoly systems make sense in the context of group in Bamako that bought their first suction fully industrialized economies where the desired truck with a non-profit loan, and of the sludge product is fairly standard: individual water and treatment plane in Cotonou that is now negotiating sewerage connections for each residence. But a loan on concessional terms with a bilateral where this model has been transplanted to African donor to build a second plant, are the rare cities, it encounters a much wider variety of exceptions to this rule. customers. Many urban residents need to buy water in small quantities and are not interested in filling out forms or dealing with billing systems. 48 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS N AFRICAN CITIES This clientele is more comfortable buying water successful, the heavy burden of sustaining service from independent local providers. has driven them to seek some means of remunera- tion, whether overtly or by creative accounting Fees Match Demand from Poor Households practices. The price of water delivered door-to-door is more Much time and effort might have been saved expensive (US$2 per cubic meter in Dakar, in these cases by giving management responsibil- Bamako, Nouakchott, Conakry) compared to ity to professionals from the outset and assigning water purchased at a standpipe (about US$1 per supervision responsibility to representatives chosen cubic meter), but this difference is accepted by the by the community. For example, in Mali, neighbor- clientele served because they recognize that hood Users' Associations subcontract financial * the higher price pays for the cost of transport, auditing and technical assistance to a Water * because of competition, profits are low, and Supply Advisory Unit, which, for a fee of CFAF20 * they can make more than enough money with per cubic meter of water, periodically audits the the time saved not fetching water to pay the accounts and prepares a financial statement. This difference in water price. gives the associations a source of reliable financial Comparing water rates charged by indepen- data and performance indicators. dent providers with those charged by water companies also fails to take account of the fact Water Quality is Similar to That of Water Companies that, if water companies were to extend their The quality of water provided by independent networks into the unplanned areas where low- providers is practically the some as that of water income residents live, they would be forced to from the mains, where it is drawn, and is better raise their rates to reflect the difficult nature of the than that of water drawn and carried home by terrain. Also, the product they would be offering household members in uncovered basins. The would not be the same as that offered by the inde- quality of water in the mains depends primarily on pendent providers, who sell smaller quantities and treatment at the source, in particular, chlorination. deliver them door-to-door. This group of customers Good water quality depends on treatment of water is justified in its choice of independent providers, as it leaves the city reservoir, and on reducing the who earn very little for the often backbreaking incidence of pressure loss, which leads to contami- work they do (US$`1-4 per day on average). nation through aspiration or infiltration of wastewater. Constraints Increase the Price of Water Administrative and technical constraints intended The Private Sedor Can Promote Public Water Services to "protect consumers" impose additional costs on Private sector involvement is not necessarily independent providers, which are passed on in the synonymous with anarchy nor does it keep public form of higher prices. Otherwise, independent water companies out of the market. On the providers raise their prices only when water is contrary, strong private sector involvement at the scarce, alternative sources are limited, or there is distribution level requires strong public sector collusion among operators. There is a legitimate performance at the production level, in terms of regulatory role to be played by the public sector, good production-level performance indicators, but the objective should be to promote competition good long-term coordination with distributors, and rather than limit the number of providers. ability to guarantee a stable and favorable regulatory environment. Non-profit and Community-based Arrangements Can Lead to Hidden Costs Projects carried out with external funding in 9.3 Obstacles to Expansion African cities have often given responsibility for The main constraints that face independent managing community services such as water delivery to non-profit groups. In cases where these oeaosaentteaalblt feupeto material, lack of appropriate technology, or lack of groups are not successful, their mistakes hove human resources. The main constraints are proven costly in the long run. Where they are 49 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CMES The solution is not to limit or prohibh idepen- costs, this type of unwarranted interference dent provider acivity in ]he delivery of wczer increases risk and discourages investment. and sanitation services, in the name of The shortage of public space is a specific protecting monopoly privilege or social ideals. constraint that arises from this lack of dialogue: the Bringing independent providers into partrw- absence or scarcity of approved dumping areas ship with other actors can leod to new idas, for sludge in most of the cities imposes extra sources of energy, and even sources Of transport and time costs on the truckers who collect financing. Reducing the dstebs foced bi sludge, which raises costs to the users. In Bamako, independent providers wAl increase their the lack of municipal land on which to build public commitment to working in partnership. 0 latrines and showers is a major constraint to increasing supply in areas where demand is high (train stations, markets), since there is no lack of institutional and legal and stem from the lack of an private operators ready to finance construction appropriate public policy framework. One and handle facilities management. indicator is the poor state of relations with public Lack of independent Regulatory Authority authorities and with commercial banks. Another striking aspect of the water and sanitation Lack of Communication with Authorities sector in African cities is the absence of any kind The absence of any dialogue between independent of independent regulatory agency. Experience in providers and public authorities is strikingly Europe and Latin America has shown the extent to consistent across all the cities and towns surveyed. which the role of such agencies and the degree of The silence is due in part to the lack of profes- their independence can have a major influence on sional associations to represent the independent the quality of service offered, in particular to low- operators, but also to a studied lack of interest on income households who are not the most profitable the part of the authorities. They turn a blind eye to customers for city-wide water companies. The the presence of independent providers, neglecting absence of such agencies in the African cities has to designate sites for proper disposal of septic led to wastage, as too much water is sent to some waste or to make use of independent providers' areas and not enough to others; misuse of water intimate knowledge of demand in siting new resources, as city-wide public interest is ignored in standpipes. For lack of any official recognition or favor of commercial overexploitation; and inequal- status, independent providers are subject to ity in access to basic water service. pressure from some government agents who may The regulatory agency must be truly indepen- otherwise impose fines. In addition to increasing dent in status and in practice, since it must be able Kampala (Uganda) Cily Council simultaneously encourages-and discourages-private management of public toilets Three private operators signed contracts with the Kampala city government to provide municipal public toilets. There is a high volume of business: in the city center, an eight-toilet facility is used by 70 persons an hour, eleven hours a day. But at the same time, the expansion of toilet facilities is hindered by the high cost of repairing the existing facilities, the high cost of water delivered by the water company (US$2 per cubic meter of water for a facility where 16 cubic meters is used per day on average), and the imposition of a monthly municipal tax of US$1,000 after three years of operation. And then there are the frequent cuts in water provision. The owner of one of the private operators, KKM All Services Ltd., decided to rehabilitate a borehole near his facility in order to have access to water supply from a more reliable source than the city network. He bought a pickup truck fitted with a water tank to transport water from the borehole, and undertook to maintain the drains. He earns about $15,000 a year from his business, 70 percent of whose clientele are poor households. 50 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SANITATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES to balance the divergent interests of different within the concessionaire's service area. The effect parties, especially in the case of a conflict between of such arrangements is to eliminate competition, public authorities and private operators. A and along with it, the incentive to innovate and government office is not necessarily the best diversify service delivery options. Having won candidate to perform such a function, given the such favorable terms, the concessionaires defend long tradition of rivalry in the services and civil them fiercely, whether they are public or private works arenas between public sector forced enterprises. This competitive instinct can extend account and private service and construction into abuse of monopoly power, as in reported entrepreneurs. Two examples come to mind from cases where fontainiers report that city water this study: company employees seek to annul their contracts * Some public authorities make a point of testing at the slightest pretext in order to replace them the quality of water distributed by independent with their own front men. The users are the ones providers but rarely test water distributed in the who suffer, since they have no recourse should the city-wide mains. concessionaire chose to set tariffs artificially high * Some public authorities would like to put a or deliver unsatisfactory service. ceiling on the price of water but have no intention of subsidizing the difference between the Financial Sector Indifference maximum price and the cost of providing water. The modern banking sector in the countries studied does not offer loans to the small individual Urban Development Policy Vacuum operators and local enterprises that make up the The capital cities of sub-Saharan African countries informal sector, except for purchase of equipment, have been growing at annual rates of 5 to 8 such as trucks, that can serve as collateral for the percent for the last 30 years, a rate of growth that loans. Independent water and sanitation providers implies rapid and continual response to the are therefore obliged to finance their investment growing demand for public services. But there is a through more traditional means-family savings, consistent absence of public policy to deal with savings clubs (tontines), moneylenders, and urban growth in all these countries. The municipal suppliers' credits. The exceptions found in this authorities have been starved of resources and study were two cases where loans were obtained authority to act by central governments unwilling outside the modern banking sector: SIBEAU in to release real power and the fiscal resources to Cotonou received external donor financing for match. The lack of any clear strategy for extend- expanding their plant, and Sema Saniya in ing infrastructure and developing new land-more Bamako received a loan from an NGO. Because a case of benign neglect or laissez faire than of there is no means to share risk when using tradi- any deliberate intention-has led to the mush- tional financing sources, small enterprises tend to rooming of unplanned settlements and of illegal minimize their risk by investing in short-term ones on land difficult to provide with basic improvements (6 to 1 2 months). As a result, inde- infrastructure (areas subject to flooding, ravines, pendent water and sanitation providers tend to lanes impassable to motorized vehicles). While this make a number of sequential smaller investments situation has created opportunities for independent rather than take advantage of economies of scale. providers, who can more easily provide water and They find the funds they need, even for fairly sanitation services in such areas than can the city- large investments, but they pay a high effective wide water concessionaire, it also has raised the interest rate for capital. Moneylenders' rates can cost of delivering such service. exceed 40 percent a year and suppliers charge 3 percent a month. Transaction costs for family and Abuse of Monopoly Power tontine funds involves reciprocity-contributions in Typical concession contracts for city-wide water kind equal to the amount borrowed. operators, in Africa and elsewhere, grant long- The informal sector is constrained in its rate of term (30-year) monopoly rights to water resources, expansion due to the lack of access to larger ofen prohibiting the pumping or sale of water loans. But the financial sector is also losing out on 51 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SAN TATION PROVIDERS IN AFRICAN CITIES a large and potentially profitable market for its where land may be expropriated without services because it offers no loan instruments compensation from one day to the next. appropriate to the urban informal sector, though * In Bamako, sludge collection trucks are some- this market produces 40 to 70 percent of urban times confiscated under vague pretexts and their GDP. Donor funding of lines of credit restricted to owners can never be sure they will recover their small and micro-enterprises has not in the past property. created any motivation for banks to develop a * In Kampala, the builders of two small water commercial strategy for the urban informal sector. distribution networks on the city's edge stand to The urban informal sector would be better served lose everything when the water company by measures to improve bank loan administration decides to move its own network into the area policies and procedures generally, and to broaden and sell water at its highly subsidized rates. loan eligibility terms in order to respond to market demand. If independent operators' access to commercial bank credit could be expanded, the savings in the cost of credit would be passed on to their customers. Exclusion from Public Works Contracts Many independent entrepreneurs, including those involved in the water and sanitation sector, would like to be able to participate in bidding for civil works contracts to extend piped networks or to build pits and tanks, and for service contracts to collect sludge or clean drainage ditches. They are kept from participating by the large size of job lots, sometimes so large that they can be handled only by a few large national or international enterprises, and sometimes by backroom deals between a few large contractors and the civil servants awarding the contracts. Lack of access to this market marginalizes the small contractors because such public contracts, especially externally financed ones, make up the lion's share of work in the sector-more than 80 percent. The lack of competition in bidding hurts not only the independent operators but also the consumers and those paying for the works, since it results in higher costs for works and services. Unprotected Investment Independent providers must be careful to limit their risks by undertaking only short-term investments that can be recouped in a short time, generally less than two years. They do this not out of a lack of professionalism, but deliberately and out of necessity, in order to protect their investment. For example, * In Cotonou, most water network extensions have been made in unplanned settlement areas, 52 INDEPENDENT WATER AND SAN TATION PROVIDERS IN AFR CAN CITIES 10. Next Steps Independent providers are not looking for the authorities increases their operating costs and handouts or grants and often do not need loans. raises the rates they must charge. They do not expect technical training or social security benefits. More than anything else, Official Recognition and Contractual Relationships independent providers are unhappy with the lack with Civil Authorities of recognition from municipal and water company Independent providers interviewed for this study officials for the value of the services they perform. often complain about the lack of recognition from What they would like most of all is a fair institu- municipal and water company officials for the tional and legal environment that would be value of the services they perform. Coordination favorable to more investment and expansion of among public and private actors would clarify the activity on their part, in response to their clients' points of mutual interest and the obstacles to better demand. They would also like better coordination service delivery, such as lack of sludge dumping with city authorities and water companies. sites. Users would benefit From better coordination While the study results do not point to simple through a reduction in costs and better service solutions or blueprints for success, they do suggest coverage. some dos and don'ts: * widely applicable strategic approaches, Trnpaec an Coptto WdypibsrtiarcIt is in the consumers' interests for the authorities to * promising avenues for future work, and...