Module 1 sustainability (presentation)
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WASH Governance 1.2: Key sustainability factors in water and sanitation services
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Module 1 sustainability (presentation)
- 1. Key sustainability factors in water and sanitation services
- 12. WaterAid Sustainability Framework (2011)
Editor's Notes
- Ongoing O&M is one of the key factors in sustainability. Generally, it costs more to repair infrastructure that has not been maintained than it does to build new infrastructure. This factor will be elaborated in the module on institutional arrangements for service provision. Community awareness and responsibility : Communities served need to know what their tariffs pay for; what their rights and responsibilities as customers are; how improved water and sanitation services can improve their health and economic situation; how they can protect their water source and how they can use the scheme efficiently and effectively. The communities should also participate in key decisions relating to water and sanitation implementation and sustainability. Local economic opportunities can be created through water and sanitation services in various ways which will contribute to financial sustainability. A main objective of improved access to water and sanitation services is to improve health . Infrastructure provision is not enough. Cholera highlights the importance of health and hygiene awareness. Water and sanitation need to be part of integrated development planning at the local level – and not addressed in isolation. We have learnt through hard practice that if all of these factors are not in place, the likelihood of water and sanitation projects translating into sustainable services decreases substantially.
- We will now focus on five main factors that are critical to sustainability . The first of these factors relates to social issues. Generally projects are implemented as if they are about getting pump and pipes in the ground and building toilets. Social and institutional issues tend to be neglected, but they are most often the underlying reasons for unsustainable projects. The factors listed here are absolutely critical to sustainability, yet they are usually dealt with as the ‘poor cousins’ in project plans and budgets. Unless there is: - active facilitation of community involvement in decision making; a focus on health and hygiene promotion and improved health practices, as well as the implications of HIV/AIDs; effective communication lines between the water services authority, water services provider and customers - effective training and capacity building that builds the right capacity in the right institutions at the right time, the infrastructure will not be properly managed and will not last. Consequently there will not be a meaningful improvement in the lives of your constituencies.
- The next critical sustainability factor is governance. There are a number of important issues here. In the first place, all the institutions involved in water and sanitation services need to have clearly defined and agreed on roles and responsibilities . The water services authority, for example, needs to understand and be able to fulfil its legislative functions in terms of governance; planning; selecting, contracting and monitoring water services providers as appropriate to the context; managing finances and ensuring accountability to customers. The water services authority needs to select the right partners and the right contracts , for the right reasons, with sustainable outcomes. This will vary from situation to situation. The appropriate water services provider partnerships in urban areas, for example, will differ vastly from those in remote rural areas. The contracts and monitoring systems used with private partners will be different from those used with community-based partners. In all cases, the water services provider should be customer oriented, able to manage and account for finances, able to manage contracts and monitor, as well as plan, administer and maintain the system. Ongoing monitoring systems should focus on key sustainability issues (as outlined in this presentation) and not be restricted to monitoring infrastructure built and money spent. Monitoring systems should also lead to remedial action and not be a ‘data for the sake of data collection’ exercise. The authority must also ensure that the necessary support is in place for the provision of sustainable services.
- Customers pay when: they understand why they are paying and what they are paying for they get an acceptable, efficient, affordable and reliable service repairs and maintenance happen timeously there are clear, agreed and enforced sanctions for non-payment they know and trust the institution collecting the funds they are informed of, and are experiencing, the value of improved water services and associated health benefits the tariff is affordable and structured appropriately there is an effective and appropriate revenue collection system they are involved in water services planning and decisions that affect them All of these factors depend on a policy and legal framework that supports sustainable water and sanitation services. This includes a clear policy and mechanism for cross subsidisation where people are too poor to pay, and underlines the importance of developing a workable implementation strategy for free water.
- The design of the water or sanitation infrastructure needs to be affordable to customers; technically feasible; easy to operate and maintain at local level; environmentally sustainable; upgradeable to higher levels of service and to accommodate population growth; based on customer choices; and ensure effective waste management systems. It makes no sense to build technically impressive and complicated schemes that are too difficult and expensive to operate and maintain. In another scenario, it doesn’t make sense to build schemes without taking waste management or source sustainability into account. Ongoing O&M depends on a number of factors including appropriate technical design; correct use of funds collected; effective links with customers for fault reporting; clear O&M roles and responsibilities; sufficient capacity and expertise to carry out O&M (e.g. in rural areas where there is limited communication infrastructure, vast distances and poorer customers, the more O&M that can happen at village level, the better); the availability and accessibility of spares, and so on. All this underlines the importance of ensuring that technical, social and institutional issues are tackled in an integrated fashion and that technical decisions, which have important social consequences, are not taken without sufficient community involvement or awareness.
- The water services provider needs to have the necessary capacity to fulfil its functions and responsibilities. Thus it is very important that an appropriate water services provider is selected for the area to be served. If a CBO is selected, the necessary capacity to operate and manage the scheme must be created. This includes the systems to operate, manage and maintain the services. Management systems include asset management, financial systems, operational planning, and human resource issues. The WSP must have access to supplies and spare parts to operate the service. Particularly in the case of CBP water service providers, they need access to support services to support them to efficiently and effectively fulfil their functions.
- This slide illustrates all the components for a sustainable service operated by a community based organisation. It emphasises the importance of the design and implementation the entire system as well as provision of external support.