Water supply and sanitation in Rwanda

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Rwanda: Water and Sanitation
Data
Water coverage (broad definition)	57% (2005)[1]
Sanitation coverage (broad definition)	42% (2004)[2]
Continuity of supply	n/a
Average urban water use (l/c/d)	n/a
Average urban water and sewer bill (US$/month)	n/a
Share of household metering	n/a
Share of collected wastewater treated	n/a
Annual investment in WSS	US$4/capita (2006) in rural areas alone[3]
Share of self-financing by utilities	n/a
Share of tax-financing	n/a
Share of external financing	n/a
Institutions
Decentralization to municipalities	Full, since 2002
National water and sanitation company	None
Water and sanitation regulator	None
Responsibility for policy setting	Ministry of Lands, Environment, Forests, Water and Mines
Sector law	n/a
Number of urban service providers	1 (TBC)
Number of rural service providers	847 water systems

Water supply and sanitation in Rwanda is characterized by a rapid increase in access over the past years in rural areas, aided by a clear government policy and significant donor support. In response to poor sustainability of rural water systems and poor service quality, in 2002 local government in the Northern Byumba Province, inspired by similar experiences in neighboring Uganda, contracted out service provision to the local private sector in a form of public-private partnership. Support for public-private partnerships became a government policy in 2004.

Access to adequate basic sanitation remains woefully low at less than 10%, according to the 2005 Integral Household Living Conditions Survey.

In urban areas, a 5-year management contract to improve the performance of the public utility Electrogaz was terminated early by the government in 2006.

Contents 1 Access 1.1 Level and trend 1.2 Impact of lack of access 1.3 Infrastructure 2 Service quality 3 Water resources and water use 4 History and recent events 4.1 Decentralization and public-private partnerships 4.2 Management contract for Electrogaz 5 Responsibility for water supply and sanitation 5.1 Policy, regulation and planning 5.2 Service provision 6 Financial aspects 6.1 Tariffs 6.2 Cost recovery 6.3 Investment 6.4 Financing 7 External cooperation 8 Notable facts 9 External links 10 References

[edit] Access

[edit] Level and trend

Figures on access to water and sanitation vary depending on the source of information, apparently in part because different definitions may have been used for access to an Improved water source and Improved sanitation. The fact that many rural water systems are not functioning properly makes it also difficult to estimate effective access to improved water supply.

The following table compares access to water supply according to various sources, highlighting the difficulty to obtain reliable data on the change in access to water supply because of different definitions used. The data appear to indicate that access decreased over time, while in the same period significant investments were undertaken in rural water supply. The government's 2002 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper acknowledges that indeed "sustained access to potable water sources has probably declined in rural areas" since 1995.^[4] A main reason is poor maintenance and insufficient cost recovery, leading to the breakdown of systems, in particular those relying on pumping.

Table: Access to an improved source of water supply according to various sources

	Urban (16% of the population)	Rural (84% of the population)
2000 Multi-Indicator Survey	91%	67%
2002 Census	80%	67%
2005 Integral Household Living Conditions Survey	66%	57%

According to both the 2000 Multi-Indicator Survey and the 2000 Demographic and Health Survey, access to an improved source of water supply was 91% in urban areas and 67% in rural areas.^[5] According to the same source, access to adequate sanitation was 54% in urban areas and 37% in rural areas^[6]

According to calculations based on data from the 2002 census, access to an improved source of water supply was 80% in urban areas and 67% in rural areas, including in the definition of improved source house connections, yard connections, public standposts, protected wells and protected springs.^[7] If figures were comparable, this would indicate a decline in access in urban areas and a stagnation in rural areas. The following map shows access to an improved source of water supply by districts and towns according to the 2002 census: Map of access to an improved source of water supply

According to the 2005 Integral Household Living Conditions Survey, however, 66% of the urban population and 57% of the rural population had access to an improved source of drinking water. With respect to adequate sanitation, access was estimated at only 10% in urban areas and 8% in rural reas.^[1] If the figures were comparable, this would imply a massive decrease in access to water and sanitation in both urban and rural areas over the preceding five years.

However, according to a World Bank report, access to rural water supply in Rwanda increased from 41% in 2001 to 55% in 2005.^[8] The 2005 figure thus is roughly in line with the figures of the 2005 Integral Household Living Conditions Survey.

According to the government, access to water supply in rural areas increased significantly in only two years from 57% in 2005 to 71% in 2007.^[3]

[edit] Impact of lack of access

Lack of access to water supply and sanitation has significant health impacts. In addition, it imposes a significant burden on women and girls who have to carry water. For instance, more than one in five households in Umutara is more than an hour away from its water source. This has implications for the quality of women's and girls' lives, their economic productivity and their access to education.^[4] Even where people statistically do have access to an improved water source such as a communal borehole that in some cases is shared by up to 175 families, they sometimes have to wait for more than four hours before they can get water.^{[9] [10]}

[edit] Infrastructure

Water infrastructure in Rwanda consisted of 15 urban and about 796 rural water systems in 2002.^[11] These systems feed both standpipes, primarily in rural areas, and private connections, primarily in urban areas. Handpumps using groundwater and managed springs provide water separately from water systems.

Some rural water systems are large and complex. For example, in 2001 there were 50 water systems that spanned more than one district and 10 water systems that spanned more than one province.^[4]

Water Infrastructure

	Urban (16% of the population)	Rural (84% of the population)
Systems	15	796
Standpipes	286	7905
Private connections	22806	2461
Managed springs and handpumps	0	18299

Source: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 2002, p. 51 and p. 25, quoting the 2001 inventory of rural water supply systems

Despite favorable rainfall, little use is made of rainwater harvesting, except by a few health centers and churches.^[4]

Concerning sanitation, only about 15% of urban wastewater is collected through sewers. As far as sanitation in institutions is concerned, only 20% of primary schools in both rural and urban areas have latrines. The situation in secondary schools, prisons, health centers and markets is also poor.^[4]

[edit] Service quality

About half of rural water schemes did not function in 2004 according to an extensive field survey.^[3] (to be completed)

[edit] Water resources and water use

Rwanda has abundant rainfall and water resources, totalling 5 billion cubic meters per year (177 billion cu ft/yr).^[12] However, deforestation and erosion affect the productivity of springs, which are the main source of water supply in rural areas.

Rwanda has 22,300 springs registered in a spring inventory.^[3] Total water use was estimated at 150 million cubic meters per year (5.3 billion cu ft/yr) in 2000, of which 24% (36 million m³/year or 1.27 billion cu ft/year) was for domestic uses, corresponding to only 4 cubic meters per capita per year or about 11 liters per capita per day (140 cu ft/capita/yr or about 3 U.S. gallons or 2½ imperial gallons/capita/day).^[13] Another source estimates total water use at 800 million cubic meters per year (28 billion cu ft/yr) in 1993, of which 5% (40 million m³/yr or 1.4 billion cu ft) were for domestic uses.^[12]

[edit] History and recent events

From 1950 to 1984 water in rural areas was provided free of charge to beneficiaries and infrastructure was owned by the national government. Beginning in 1984 the responsibility for rural service provision was transferred to communities. In 1987 a decree (Arrêté Présidentiel n°291/11 du 15 mai 1987) transferred ownership of rural water infrastructure to districts, well before the government enacted a comprehensive decentralization policy.^[13]

From 1990-1993 the country was engulfed in a Civil War, followed by a massive Genocide in 1994.

Reconstruction activities after the war initially did not achieve a large increase in water supply and sanitation coverage, nor was there a sustainable management model for water systems in rural areas. Many users did not pay for water, some collected funds were mismanaged, and voluntary members of water committees in charge of operating and maintaining systems were often poorly motivated. As a result, about half of rural water schemes did not function in 2004 according to an extensive field survey.^[3] The adoption of a new sector policy based on a demand driven approach in 1997 did not change the situation much.

[edit] Decentralization and public-private partnerships

In 2000 the government began a process of decentralization, giving the country's 30 districts more revenues and decision-making authority. Districts, which were already nominally the owners of rural water infrastructure, now began to develop their capacity to plan and execute infrastructure projects.

In 2002 local government in the Northern Byumba Province, inspired by similar experiences in neighboring Uganda, contracted out service provision to the local private sector in a form of public-private partnership.

Following that local experience, the government eventually abandoned its policy of community management and decided in 2004 to promote local public-private partnerships following the "Byumba model". With the backing up of the national government, districts thus competitively bid out and signed contracts with private service providers throughout the country. In 2007, 140 rural piped water systems (25% of the total) were managed through public-private partnerships.^[3]

Investments in rural water supply increased substantially since 2002, leading to a significant increase in access to water supply in rural areas from 57% in 2005 to 71% in 2007 according to government figures.^[3]

[edit] Management contract for Electrogaz

In urban areas, in 2003 the utility ELECTROGAZ was placed under a management contract with Lahmeyer International to manage and restructure ELECTROGAZ in collaboration with Hamburg Water Works for 5 years. In March 2006, the management contract was terminated and management of the company reverted to the Government of Rwanda.^[14]

The government has set itself the target to achieve universal access to water supply and sanitation by 2020.^[3]

[edit] Responsibility for water supply and sanitation

[edit] Policy, regulation and planning

The Ministry of Lands, Environment, Forests, Water and Mines (Ministère des Terres, de l’Environnement, des Forêts, de l’Eau et des Mines - Miniter), through its water and sanitation directorate (Direction de l’eau et de l’assainissement), is in charge of determining water policies and strategies in Rwanda. It is also in charge of monitoring drinking water quality and promoting user awareness.^[13]

The Ministry of Infrastructure (Mininfra) is supporting districts in the construction of water supply systems, latrines and hygiene promotion with the support of UNICEF.

The Ministry of Local Government, Good Governance, Rural Development and Social Affairs (Minaloc) is in charge of accompanying local participatory planning processes, appying the government's Community Development Policy.^[15] Actual planning is carried out by Rwanda's 30 districts through District Development Plans which are elaborated using a participatory approach. The districts also own the water infrastructure.

The regulatory agency Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA), created by law in 2001, is responsible for the economic regulation of the telecommunications, electricity, water, sanitation, gas and transportation sectors. Its mission is to:

• Ensure that certain utilities provide goods and services throughout the country to meet in transparency all reasonable demands and needs of all natural persons and organizations;
• Ensure that all utility suppliers have adequate means to finance their activities;
• Continually promote the interest of users and potential users of the goods and services provided by utilities so that there is effective competition when competition is introduced in each utility sector and protection of users from abuses of monopoly positions is ensured because certain Public utility sectors have a monopoly over the market.
• Facilitate and encourage private sector participation in investments in public utilities;
• Ensure compliance by public utilities with the laws governing their activities.^[16]

The purpose of the agency's water and sanitation department is to:

• regulate in a way that promotes fair competition, sustainable and efficient use of water resources;
• ensure better quality of services to customers at fair prices;
• ensure effective protection of environment by enforcing wastes disposal and by-products treatment regulations.

In practice, according to the agency's annual reports up to 2004, it seems that the regulatory agency focused much of its activities in the water and sanitation sector on the supervision of the management contract for Electrogaz.

[edit] Service provision

Urban areas. The public enterprise Electrogaz is in charge of urban water supply (as well as electricity and gas supply) in urban areas, including the capital Kigali and 10 other towns. Its monopoly was lifted in 1999.^[13]

Rural areas. There are 847 piped rural water systems in Rwanda and 19,300 protected springs. Most of the piped water systems are pumped systems, as opposed to gravity systems, since in Rwanda many settlements are at higher altitude than the water sources serving them. Many systems serve a large number of villages: The largest ones serve up to 120,000 people living in villages dozens of kilometers apart. Almost all users are served through water sales points where water is sold or given away for free by the bucket. House connections are rare in rural areas.

Services in rural areas are provided by community-based organizations (about 650 systems), by private operators under contract with district governments (about 140 systems) and privately owned systems (about 60), most of which were privately owned since at least 2000.^[3]

[edit] Financial aspects

[edit] Tariffs

Water tariffs in rural areas are usually measured by jerrycan (bucket) for water sold at water kiosks or public standposts. In rural water systems managed by private operators in 2004 the water tariffs per jerrycan of 20 liters varied between 14 and 25 Rwandan Franc (RWF), equivalent to about 2.5 to 4.5 US cents per gerrycan or US$ 1.25 - 2.25 per cubic meter, according to the Utilities Regulatory Agency.^[17] However, according to a World Bank report of 2008 tariffs range from only RWF 2.5 (gravity-fed systems) to RWF 15 (pumping systems) per jerrycan (equivalent to US$0.25 to US$1.40/m3). In addition, and to alleviate the financial burden for the poorest part of the rural population, the districts keep a list of vulnerable households (widows, poor single-parent households), who get free access to water points. These lists are drawn up by communities and approved by local authorities.^[18]

According to the World Bank, "the principle of paying water at standposts in accordance with the volume consumed has been widely accepted, as the water users acknowledged the improvements in service delivery. More than fifteen years of experience with administrative or community management of water services proved that free or unpaid water resulted in little water or no water at all."^[18]

For the few house connections the volumetric tariff is set at between RWF622 and RWF850 per m3 (US$ 1.13 and 1.55 per m3) according to the regulatory agency and at RWF185 to RWF600 per m3 according to the World Bank.

Note: No tariffs for urban areas are available.

[edit] Cost recovery

Cost recovery in rural water schemes has apparently improved in those schemes that are run as public-private partnerships, despite the fact that some poor users receive water for free. Private operators also pay a monthly rent to the districts for the right to use the systems, which remain publicly owned.^[3]

[edit] Investment

Level and composition. Investments in rural water supply and sanitation increased from US$ 3.5 million in 2002 to US$ 32 million in 2006.^[3]

Mechanism. Investments are channeled from donors and the national government to districts and communities through a Community Development Fund (CDF) established in 2001. 10% of tax revenues are allocated to the CDF by law, although actual transfers remained short of this target in 2003. In that year, 4 bn Rwandan Francs (RWF) were approved, but only 1 bn RWF were disbursed. ^[19] The 30 Districts of Rwanda sign annual performance contracts with the President of the Republic about the construction of water facilities and the protection of catchment areas. A commission assesses progress on a quarterly basis.^[3]

[edit] Financing

A large share of investments is financed by donors, including by the World Bank. Communities contribute to the initial capital costs.^[3] In 2009 the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Program and the government of Rwanda completed a study of Rwanda’s funding mechanisms for water and sanitation which found that "existing financing modalities are highly fragmented and not appropriate for consistent financing of an ambitious water sector program". A new financing option recommended by the study was awaiting government approval in October 2009. It proposes a pooled Water and Sanitation Fund that would handle both government and donor contributions through the same national procedures. Districts would submit projects based on their regular planning procedures while a unit managing the Fund would appraise and monitor the projects. The Fund would be established under a new water supply and sanitation authority.^[20]

[edit] External cooperation

Donors in the Rwandan rural water sector follow a unified implementation framework which is based on the government’s national strategy and program and medium-term expenditure framework.^[8] According to the Rwandan Development Gateway, in 2005 Rwanda’s "achievements in establishing an aid coordination, harmonization, and alignment framework are being recognized as international best-practice."^[21] This is significant progress compared to the observation in the government's 2002 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, which had observed "a piecemeal and uncoordinated approach" among donors in the sector and had called for a sector-wide approach.^[11]

The World Bank supported rural water supply and sanitation through a series of projects, including the US$ 72.3 million water supply 02 project (1987-1998) and the US$ 20 million Rural Water and Sanitation Project (2000-2007). The latter has provided 352,000 people with access to improved water services by December 2006. At the same time more than 12 percent of the 830 water-piped systems existing in the country were privately managed.^[8] The World Bank rated the project highly satisfactory in its 2008 completion report.^[18]

In 2005 the European Union (EU) signed a contract with the Rwandan government for a major water project in the Bugesera Region (Kigali rural) worth 16 billion Rwandan francs (Euro 23.24 million). The water project will benefit the four districts of Kanzenze, Gashora, Bicumbi and Kanombe in the eastern part of Kigali city.^[22]

The African Development Bank has recently committed US$12 million to rural water supply and sanitation. The British and Belgian governments also support water supply and sanitation projects in Rwanda.^[23]

The Government of the Netherlands has recently committed US$22 million for a Water for Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project to be implemented by UNICEF. The aim of the project is to increase the provision of water services and of sanitation facilities as well as to spread good hygiene practices. ^[24] The project is implemented by four districts in the Northern Province with the support of the Ministry of Infrastructure. ^[25] An evaluation of a previous US$5 million UNICEF project for Water and Environmental Sanitation (WES) implemented from 1997 to 2000 concluded that its goals had been too ambitious and its hygiene and environmental sanitation component yielded little impact. However, in the 66 municipalities were the project intervened it increased access to water supply and succeeded in strengthening community capacity for managing water systems.^[26]

[edit] Notable facts

Compared to many other developing countries two notable facts make the water sector in Rwanda stand apart:

• The rapid spread of locally initiated public-private partnerships in rural areas, with the support of the government, now covering 25% of rural water systems
• The use of a common approach by all donors in the rural sector, following a clearly established government strategy

[edit] External links

• 2002 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
• Ministry of Lands, Environment, Forestry, Water and Mines (MINITERE)
• Water and Sanitation Directorate in Minitere
• Ministry of Infrastructure:Introduction to water and sanitation subsector
• Electrogaz
• National Institute of Statistics (NISR)
• 2001 Evaluation of the UNICEF Water and Environmental Sanitation Program

[edit] References

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