The eThekwini Water and Sanitation Unit (EWS) is responsible for the provision of water and sanitation services to more than 3.3 million people within the eThekwini municipal boundaries. This provides a number of challenges such as the presence of informal settlements within 5km of world class facilities and rural areas within 20km of the city centre. Issues that needed to be addressed included a lack of awareness on how to use water supply and sanitation services correctly, illegal connections, blockages and vandalism. This presentation was given at the 2011 Striking WASH Communication event in Stockholm by Neil Macleod, Head Water and Sanitation, Department of Water and Sanitation, Durban, South Africa

1. The eThekwini Municipality
Department of Water and Sanitation
Durban, South Africa

2. WASH Challenges
 Challenges facing EWS included:
 Provision of services to communities
that do not have access to basic WASH services
 Lack of knowledge in communities on correct use of
water and sanitation facilities
 Difficulty in accessing dense informal settlements
 Vandalism / illegal connections
 Misuse and wastage of water
 High levels of non-payment
 Blockages of sewer pipes

3. Roof tank
Ground tank
UD Toilet
Water dispenser

4. Approach and implementation
• Improved participatory practices through Citizens voice
and focus groups
• Feedback from communities incorporated into policy and
implementation processes
• Material produced in local languages taking indigenous
knowledge into consideration
• Targets most disadvantaged groups
• Extensive schools programme for both learner and
educator
• Various educational approaches used such as posters,
street theatre and house visits
• Continuous evaluation to determine change in attitude and
behaviour

5. Street theatre
Posters / leaflets
Education centre at treatment
works
House visits

6. Community interaction
Schools programme
Training and
development of local
entrepreneurs
Road Shows
Working models

7. Resources
 Budget for educational purposes R 3.5 million
per year (approx. 360 000 Euros)
 Staff:
 18 full time staff employed at eThekwini Water
and Sanitation
 Community members trained and
employed on ad-hoc basis
 Initiated in 1995 and is a
continuous programme

8. Feedback – customer satisfaction
 Independent surveys on customer satisfaction with water
and sanitation services
 Human Science Research Council
 University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Development
Studies
 Project Poo (TBWA)
 Market research
 Investigating relationship between people and their toilets
 Nielson Study
 Equity; Communication; Customer services; Contact points;
Price; Maintenance; Health and safety; Accounts
 Surveyed all customers in the
Municipality
 Serves as a baseline for on going
tracking

9. Lessons learnt
 Customer perception study shows:
 significant improvement in behaviour change in communities
where basic WASH services are being provided
 communication with customers receiving a higher level of service
needs to be improved
 There is a strong emotional tie between people and the toilet
 Education material of no value if not part of a structured
approach and flexible to needs of community
 Develop material at correct level of understanding (indigenous
knowledge)
 Important to establish a point of contact in the community and
within the institution (e.g. call centre)
 Engaging communities has led to policy changes

10. The eThekwini Municipality, Department of Water and Sanitation
Durban, South Africa