Free basic water services standards as indicators to assess inequalities in sustainable access to improved water services.
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Date
2020
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Abstract
Sustainable access to improved water services is essential to sustain human life and a
fundamental human right. Water is used by rural communities for activities that improve
their health, wellbeing and livelihoods. As a result, the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDG) aim to attain universal access to improved water services provided by Improved
Water Sources (IWS). IWS include standpipes in dwellings, communal standpipes and
protected dug wells. Aligned to the SDG, the South African government conceived and
effected the Free Basic Water Services (FBWS) policy to coordinate efforts to attain
universal access to improved water services. However, there have been challenges in
implementation of the FBWS policy resulting in a vast proportion of the rural communities
without sustainable access to improved water services. The challenges vary from issues
related to institutional capacities, accountability and monitoring. A substantial part of the
challenge is the lack of reliable data to inform decision-makers involved in the planning and
management of improved water services in the rural communities. The challenge is
worsened by the indicator used to monitor water access as it only considers the proportion
of the population provided with an IWS. This indicator does not track the sustainability
aspects of the level of water services provided by IWS over their useful life. The research
sought to address the gaps that exists with regards to making available the information
required to inform decision-makers involved in the planning and management of improved
water services, and the use of indictors to measure sustainability aspects of water services
provided. The aim of the research was to assess inequalities in access to improved water
services using a set of indicators derived from the FBWS standards, and investigate and
analyse the complex interactions of the factors that influence access to improved water
services in Makhudutamaga Local Municipality (MLM), Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Stratified random sampling was employed to determine representative samples of the
settlements (39) and households (396) in the study area. Survey questionnaires were
administrated to collect qualitative data on households’ satisfaction with FBWS policy and
water services provided as well as to collect qualitative and quantitative data on the level of
water services provided based on distance, quantity, reliability, flow rate, water quality, and
cost. Transect walks were employed to collect supporting information to enhance an
understanding of the local context. Furthermore, key informant interviews combine with complex systems approach (e.g. network) were employed to collect qualitative data and analyse the complex interactions of factors that influenced sustainable access to improved water services. The results indicated that between 69.7% - 95.0% of households were
satisfied with aspects of the FBWS standards. When using the standards to assess
households’ satisfaction with improved water services provided, most of the households
were satisfied with distance (62.0%), quantity (61.2%), flow rate (52.7%), and water quality
(54.8%), but unsatisfied with the reliability (56.3%) and cost of buying water (58.0%). An
assessment of the level of water services provided indicated that aspects (e.g. reliability and
cost) of the improved water services provided did not comply with the FBWS standards. The
results also indicated that there were statistical differences in access to improved water
services across the 4 water schemes for distance [H(3) = 61.33, p = 0.00], quality [H(3) =
72.83, p = 0.00, flow rate [H(3) = 20.12, p = 0.00], and quality [H(3) = 17.21, p = 0.00] no
difference for reliability [H(3) = 1.37, p = 0.712]. The majority of households (78.5%) could
not afford the cost of buying water. An investigation of the factors that influence sustainable
access to improved water services found that limited budget, limited/no water supply and
improper operation and maintenance (O&M) were critical factors that influenced sustainable
access to improved water services. Therefore, the proposed targeted interventions included
increased budget, improved institutional capacity and improved monitoring. It was
concluded that there are inequalities in sustainable access to improved water services
provided based on FBWS standards. The inequalities are as a result of the complex
interactions of categories of factors that influence sustainable access to water services. This
study provides an informational advantage in understanding why the situation is as it is on
the ground to contribute to evidence-based strategic planning and management of improved
water services to ensuring sustained water access in rural municipalities. It is a
recommendation of this study for the proposed targeted interventions to be piloted and
adopted if found to be suitable to address identified challenges in the study area. The
proposed interventions include but not limited to a review of the funding model to respond
to the situation on the ground-based on monitoring information, and develop and implement
a reasonable participatory water rationing strategy.
Description
Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.