Provision of Water and Sewerage Services by Harare City Council

Harare City had totally failed to provide water to its residents. The water shortage had resulted in people digging shallow wells, resulting in cholera infections. Government allocated a grant of USD17.1 million to improve service delivery in 2009

• Water production increased from about 330ML/day to the current 600ML/day
• Water losses reduced by about 50ML/day
• Water supply coverage for Greater Harare increased from 50% to about 82%
• Current unrestricted demand is about 1200ML/day
• Sewer blockages reduced from an average of 180 to 15 per day

Challenge
Since 2000, Harare City faced challenges in providing water and sanitation services to its residents and those around its environs. The infrastructure was aged and needed urgent rehabilitation. The sewage treatment plants were treating 36ML/day against an estimated flow of 200ML/day received at the treatment plants. Pollution of raw water sources led to the increase in water production cost as more chemicals were needed for the treatment of water. Water production and distribution infrastructure was aged resulting in low production and continuous water bursts. Harare City council had no financial resources to rehabilitate the sewerage treatment and reticulation and water production and distribution systems. The water cuts compounded exacerbated the spread of cholera. The death toll from the outbreak hit 565. In 2009, Government had to intervene by asking the council to come up with a results based budget and implementation plan to address the problems. After meeting the requirements central government then extended a grant to the City of Harare.

Approach
In a collective move to avert the recurrence of water shortages and waterborne diseases and rehabilitate the country’s water, sanitation and hygiene sector, the Inclusive Government of Zimbabwe set up a National Action Committee (NAC), an inter-ministerial committee charged with overall coordination of the sector. The task’s immediate task was to deal with the water and sanitation crisis in Harare City

The Government of is implementing Results Based Management as a management tool in managing public affairs since 2005. Results based management is being introduced to local authorities which, are a decentralized point of service delivery and are semi autonomous institutions supervised by the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development. It focuses on Quick WINS or Rapid Results Initiatives approach. Harare was chosen based on the crisis it faced and the potential it offered if resources were availed to restore service delivery.

Results

Outputs
15 water booster pumps installed and functional
40km of water reticulation pipes installed
50km of ewerage reticulation pipes replaced
3 sewerage reticluation systems restored

Outcomes and outcome indicators

Improved access to potable tape water 82 % increase households with access to safe water
Reduced number of new water borne disease e.g. dysentry, diarrhoea and cholera infections from 14 700 to 38
Reduction in water losses per day from 150 meglitres to 50 megalitres
No. of megalitres of water supplied per day increased from 330 to 600
Increased usage of the sewage collection and trunk network in the high density suburbs 5% to 85%
Reduced sewerage blockages per day from 180 to 15
No. of people dying from water born diseases fell from 565 to 5

Partnerships
The rehabilitation was programme was fully funded by government but organisations such as UNICEF and the World Bank provided relief services such as mobile clinics for treating cholera victims, water treatment chemicals and drilling boreholes as well as providing clean water for use by residents using bowsers prior to the reconstruction efforts. The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority supported the programme by minimising power cuts to ensure that after the rehabilitation of water and sewerage works the supply of water and processing would not be grossly affected.

Partners
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development
Ministry of Water Development and
Ministries of Water Resources Development and Management;
Ministry of Transport, Communication and Infrastructural Development
Ministry of Health and Child Welfare
Ministry of Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development; Environment
Ministry of Education Sport, Arts and Culture
Ministry of Industry and Commerce
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
Combine Harare Residents Association
UNICEF
World Bank

Lessons Learned
Harare’s experience of water and sanitation sector development is that of a model of African sector development, collapsing within a decade. This reflects the vulnerability of sector service development built on state subsidies and donor finance, without sufficient focus on sustainability. Encouragingly, a relatively swift recovery may well be possible, given a favourable political environment, a large injection of finance, and prioritization of the sector. A second generation of reforms is now needed. They encompass: leadership, role allocation, capacity building and improving sector governance and stakeholder consultation; shifting government’s role from that of implementer to facilitator; filling key policy gaps and amending policies to improve sustainability; assisting service providers to become financially viable; improving donor-government alignment; and putting in place sector monitoring and annual review processes

Rwakurumbira Munyaradzi, Zimbabwe
Deputy Director, Modernisation Department
Office of the President and Cabinet