Review of the Quality of Sanitation Services in South Africa

1
Review of the Quality of Sanitation Services in
South Africa
It should never be forgotten that Sanitation is
Dignity and dignity is a basic human right.
(Free Basic Sanitation Implementation Strategy,
2009)

• Presentation to the SAHRC in March 2012 as
  updated

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Outline of Presentation

• Background to the study
• Introduction
• Problem statement
• Defining sanitation services
• Understanding sanitation needs
• Focus of the study
• Scope of the study
• Methodology
• Status of sanitation services in South Africa
• Why havent we achieved success
• Key factors hampering the attainment of
  functional and quality sanitation services for
  all
• Key Recommendations

3
Background

• 2011 SAHRC Report lack of dignified sanitation
  services in the form of un-enclosed toilets
  (Western Cape, and the Free State)
• Conclusion sub-standard services violate the
  right to human dignity, privacy and clean
  environment
• Recommendation Ministry PME prepare a report
  for SAHRC on the quality of sanitation services
  delivered by local government across the country.
• DPME joint initiative
• DWA Implementing Agent and project manager
• DHS (National Sanitation Programme) Strategic
  partner and project oversight and support
• DCoG Strategic partner and project oversight and
  support
• NT Strategic partner and project oversight and
  support

4
Introduction

• World Health Organisation
• Improved sanitation reduces diarrhoea death rates
  by a third
• Improved school sanitation encourages children,
  particularly girls, to stay in school.
• Improved sanitation has significant economic
  benefits every 1 invested in improved
  sanitation translates into a return of 9.
• In Africa, 115 people die every hour from
  diseases linked to poor sanitation, poor hygiene
  and contaminated water.
• Hygiene education and promotion of hand washing
  are simple, cost-effective measures that can
  reduce diarrhoea cases by up to 45
• Therefore investments in sanitation that provide
  a comprehensive service (infrastructure,
  effective OM and appropriate health education)
  has significant benefits in terms of community
  well-being, reduced health care costs and
  improved productivity.

5
Introduction continued .

• South Africa
• The sanitation MDG (to halve the proportion of
  people without a basic service in 2002) was
  achieved in 2008
• Sanitation backlog has been reduced from 52 in
  1994 to 21 in 2010 but reversal since in terms
  of adequacy. That is the goal of achieving
  universal access to sanitation by 2014 seems to
  be at risk (currently delivering to lt 300,000
  households per annum).
• The status of bulk sanitation infrastructure is
  deteriorating due to a lack of adequate operation
  maintenance, refurbishment and upgrading (Green
  Drop scores average 45 nationally)
• Municipalities spent approximately 30 of their
  2011/2012 capital budget from National Treasury
  as at 31 December 2011 often other projects
  prioritised over sanitation.
• There has been an on-going growth of informal
  settlements which, despite the construction of
  housing units for the poor, continue to grow (In
  2009 there were more than 2500 informal
  settlements comprising 1.2 m HHs).

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Problem Statement TT

• It should never be forgotten that Sanitation is
  Dignity and dignity is a basic human right.
• Department of Water Affairs Free Basic
  Sanitation Implementation Strategy 2009
• From the outset sanitation service delivery in
  South Africa has faced several challenges
• Inadequate attention to social health issues
• Negative environmental impacts
• Inadequate governance of programmes
• Institutional fragmentation of roles
• Inappropriate technology choice
• Poor attention to effective operation
  maintenance
• Inadequate financial and human resources

2003 Funding of sanitation moved from DWAF to
DPLG resulting in reduced control of project
implementation and significantly less monitoring
of projects 2005 National Sanitation
Sustainability Audit finding 28 toilets
constructed through government service delivery
programme could fail in short to
medium-term 2009 National Sanitation Programme
moved from DWA to DHS with resultant increase in
fragmentation of the sanitation function (DWA
still manages the information systems and is
responsible for regulation, but places
significantly less importance on sanitation,
while DHS capacity in the sanitation sector is
limited in its focus.
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Defining sanitation services (Strategic
Framework for Water Services, 2003)
Basic sanitation facility The infrastructure
necessary to provide a sanitation facility which
is safe, reliable, private, protected from the
weather and ventilated, keeps smells to the
minimum, is easy to keep clean, minimises the
risk of the spread of sanitation-related diseases
by facilitating the appropriate control of
disease carrying flies and pests, and enables
safe and appropriate treatment and/or removal of
human waste and wastewater in an environmentally
sound manner. Minimum basic On-site sanitation
(e.g. VIP) for rural areas Facility Waterborne
sanitation in urban areas where many businesses
are located and where residential densities are
high
A basic sanitation service entails The
provision of a sanitation facility (that is
appropriate to the settlement conditions) which
is easily accessible to a household, the
sustainable operation and maintenance of the
facility, including the safe removal of human
waste and waste water from the premises where
this is appropriate and necessary, and the
communication of good sanitation, hygiene and
related practices (to users).
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Understanding sanitation needs

• The sanitation need in South Africa may be
  defined as a combination of
• service delivery backlogs (people never served)
• refurbishment backlogs (deteriorated
  infrastructure)
• extension backlogs (to provide service in same
  community to new households)
• upgrade needs (to meet minimum standards)
• OM backlogs (infrastructure adequate if
  properly operated and maintained)
• Various sources of backlog type information are
  available, including
• Water Services National Information System
  (WSNIS) based on STATS SA census data with annual
  adjustments for calculated service delivery and
  population growth
• STATS SA data based on census and the General
  Household Survey data from 2002 to 2010 (useful
  as it also records household perceptions and
  problems encountered with services at household
  level).
• DWA Water Services Reference Framework Planning
  data set (updated Dec 2011) determined through
  first principles from satellite data linked to
  reported water service infrastructure status
  gleaned through on the ground surveys. Note that
  the need is based on dwelling numbers which is
  useful for planning purposes as it enumerates
  the delivery needs and priorities.
• Reports of ad-hoc surveys and audits
• A combination of these sources have been used
  for this report

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Focus areas of the study

• The extent to which quality and functional
  sanitation services are available
• The quality and condition of existing
  infrastructure
• Requirements to ensure an adequate level of
  service
• The ability of municipal technical and financial
  capacity to plan, implement, operate and maintain
  infrastructure.
• Adequacy of technical support currently provided
  by national and provincial government.
• The efficacy and adequacy of current grant
  allocations and municipal own budget allocations
  for basic service delivery.

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Scope of the study

• A findings report to be submitted to the SAHRC
  addressing
• Fully populated and geo-referenced country wide
  community level classification of quality
  (adequacy and functionality) of sanitation
  services experienced by citizens using the SFW
  criteria
• An assessment of the quality and condition of
  existing sanitation infrastructure (inclusive of
  waste water treatment works)
• Identification of the settlements where the
  quality of sanitation service levels does not
  meet the above criteria whilst also quantifying
  the types of investments and costs to bring
  sanitation service levels to acceptable levels
• Key challenges hampering the attainment of
  adequate sanitation service levels in identified
  hotspots

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Methodology of quality of sanitation analysis
DWA WS Reference Framework Planning data set
THE DATA PROCESS (Compiled for 68,000 communities)
i. The 2011 Spatial Data Analysis
ii Overlay of ESKOM Dwelling Information
Obtained 2010 SPOT 5 Satellite images
Overlay DWA 2010 RF Settlements GIS dataset
Evaluated data to identify possible new or
expansion developments
Obtained 2008 ESKOM dwelling points GIS dataset.
Overlay on baseline information for spatial
update.
ESKOM Dwelling Points
DWA 2010 RF Settlements polygon
iii. Updating Spatial Polygon and calculating new
Population and households Information
Utilize water services infrastructure information
and local area knowledge to calculate new water
services water and sanitation need classification
figures
iv. Utilizing image backdrop and ESKOM points to
identify rural scattered farm dwellings and
incorporating into Geodatabase
.
All settlements were evaluated and updated
according to their current water services needs.
New DWA 2011 RF Settlements polygon
v. Development of new Sanitation Services Levels
Definitions and Categories
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Sanitation Need Classification used in DWA WS
Reference Framework Planning data sets 68,000
communities
Definition Classification Description Description Categorisation Categorisation Categorisation
FORMAL FORMAL FORMAL FORMAL FORMAL FORMAL FORMAL
- BELOW - No Service Whole community never had any formal (municipal) sanitation system Whole community never had any formal (municipal) sanitation system 10    
- BELOW - Infrastructure Upgrade Existing infra not on RDP standard (functioning VIP minimum) Existing infra not on RDP standard (functioning VIP minimum) 7 8 9
- BELOW - Infrastructure Extension Communities have grown - there are households that do not have sanitation Communities have grown - there are households that do not have sanitation 7 8 9
- BELOW - Infrastructure Refurbishment Deterioration of existing infrastructure - can be restored to RDP by repair or replacement Deterioration of existing infrastructure - can be restored to RDP by repair or replacement 7 8 9
- BELOW - OM Need Can be restored to RDP by enough staff sufficient funds for OM Can be restored to RDP by enough staff sufficient funds for OM 6 8 9
- BELOW - Water Supply Needs Includes source development Includes source development 5   9
- BELOW - Water Supply Needs Conserving Demand Management Conserving Demand Management 5   9
- ADEQUATE - Waterborne Adequate Infra Adequate Infra 1 ( A )    
- ADEQUATE - Waterborne Low Flush Adequate Infra Adequate Infra 1 ( B )    
- ADEQUATE - Septic Tanks / Conservancy Adequate Infra Adequate Infra 1 ( C )    
- ADEQUATE - Non Waterborne (VIP) Adequate Infra Adequate Infra 1 ( D )    
INFORMAL INFORMAL INFORMAL INFORMAL INFORMAL INFORMAL INFORMAL
- BELOW - No Services - No Services Upgrade or relocate settlement 4 4 4
- ADEQUATE - Informal - Informal  upgrade and formalise housing 2 2 2

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Demographic Profile (National Perspective)
  Population estimate of total population households
Eastern Cape 6 829 958 13,50 1 623 448
Free State 2 759 644 5,46 888 536
Gauteng 11 328 203 22,39 2 658 402
KwaZulu-Natal 10 819 130 21,39 1 754 348
Limpopo 5 554 657 10,98 1 358 087
Mpumalanga 3 657 181 7,23 1 060 026
Northern Cape 1 096 731 2,17 962 663
North West 3 253 390 6,43 230 878
Western Cape 5 287 863 10,45 1 711 439
Total 50 586 757 100,00 12 247 827

• The current population of 50.5 million (2011) can
  be split into more than 68 000 settlements, of
  which
• 21.2 million people (or 42 of the population)
  live in large metropolitan areas
• 9.1 million people (or 18 of the population)
  live in medium-sized cities and towns
• 4.5 million people (or 9 of the population)
  live in small towns in rural areas
• 15.5 million people (or 31 of population) live
  in small rural villages and scattered settlements

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Sanitation Status (household) National
perspective

• Approximately 11 of households (Formal no
  services and Informal no services) still have
  to be provided with sanitation services (these
  households have never had a government supported
  sanitation intervention)
• Additionally at least 26 (rounded) of households
  within formal areas disturbingly have sanitation
  services which do not meet the standards due to
  the deterioration of infrastructure caused by a
  lack of technical capacity to ensure effective
  operation, timely maintenance, refurbishment
  and/or upgrading, pit emptying services and/or
  insufficient water resources.

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Sanitation Status (household) National
perspective
Province Formal Formal Formal Formal Formal Informal Informal
Province Adequate Water Resources Needs OM Needs Infrastructure Needs No Services Adequate No Services
Eastern Cape 829 274 0 0 503 789 165 919 11 243 113 223
Free State 674 502 101 469 12 650 386 432 1 505 8 770 1 161
Gauteng 2 334 964 0 0 0 1 570 205 892 143 917
KwaZulu-Natal 779 027 19 030 99 849 244 269 554 460 121 069 12 937
Limpopo 591 687 44 561 213 546 796 552 0 2 965 6 550
Mpumalanga 583 210 0 0 439 943 975 5 539 28 701
North West 478 338 2 624 39 340 389 294 747 39 3 088
Northern Cape 196 661 0 17 654 24 022 22 072 18 940 5 922
Western Cape 1 478 705 0 0 90 13 783 209 921 8 934
South Africa 7 946 368 167 684 343 738 2 735 486 1 055 031 584 378 324 433
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WSRF Sanitation Need national perspective
Sanitation need in terms of of population in
need

• Priority areas are where gt 50 of population are
  still without adequate sanitation
• i.e. All provinces except W.Cape and Gauteng

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WSRF Sanitation Need national perspective
Sanitation need in terms of priority and type of
backlog/need
ADEQUATE
NO SERVICES
INFRA UPGRADE NEEDS
OM NEEDS
WATER NEEDS
All categories
Adequate, OM needs and water supply need
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Overall Water Services Authority vulnerability

• The overall water services vulnerability is based
  on a municipal self assessment in which 16
  variables were reported
• 11 of WSAs indicate they are operating in a
  satisfactory manner
• 42 of WSAs indicated they are at risk
• 38 of WSAs indicated they are at high risk
• 9 of WSAs indicated they are at a crisis status

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Ability of municipal technical and financial
capacity to plan, implement, operate and maintain
infrastructure

• There is a general shortage of staff with
  technical skills across municipalities. This has
  implications for
• Adoption of effective asset management processes
  has been lacking in many municipalities with
  sanitation infrastructure deteriorating
  considerably over time. This is evidenced by the
  35 of households affected by sanitation
  infrastructure reportedly requiring upgrading,
  extension or refurbishment.
• The low ability to accelerate sanitation service
  delivery
• The lack of monitoring and intervention where
  service quality is poor.

20
Status of Wastewater Treatment Works

Risk rating and condition of WWTWs in South
Africa
Average green drop rating per province

• Total 826 municipal works
• 317 WWTWs require urgent attention
• 143 WWTWs have a high risk of failure
• 20 of WWTWs are running over their design
  capacity
• 90 of WWTWs are non-compliant on more than 3
  effluent determinants

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Vulnerability of the Effective Management of
Wastewater Treatment Works
Proper functioning WWTWs are critical for the
provision of access to basic sanitation services
in urban areas
Very high High Moderate Low

• The cost of maintaining and operating WWTWs is
  often not fully budgeted
• The high levels of vulnerability indicates a need
  for a drastic re-orientation of the approach to
  the management of waterborne sewage and waste
  water treatment.

• Vulnerability is based on municipal strategic
  self assessments of water services in which
  critical variables were assessed

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Funding Requirements to meet Minimum Sanitation
Service Delivery
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Funding Requirements to meet Minimum Sanitation
Service Delivery

• Key funding Sources
• The Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG)
• This is a funding arrangement for municipalities
  which combines all existing capital grants for
  municipal infrastructure into one consolidated
  grant. (R6.4bn for water services)
• Equitable Share
• This is the allocation of revenue to the
  provincial and local spheres of government as
  stipulated by Section 214 of the South African
  Constitution (R 34.1bn)
• Municipal Revenue
• These include funds from the municipalitys
  tax base or revenue e.g. funds collected for
  Municipal services property taxes, subsidies and
  various consumer tariffs levied, etc. (note that
  municipal consumer debt R75.5bn)
• Conditional Grants
• National Treasury also allocates Conditional
  Grants to local governments as well as provincial
  sector departments to be used for infrastructure
  provision. (R27.5bn)
• Other Grants
• These include grants from other departments
  (R13.8bn) such as
• Bulk Infrastructure Grant (DWA)
• Rural Household Infrastructure Grant (DHS)

• Implications of funding requirements
• To meet the currently unserved requires an
  estimated allocation of R13.5bn
• To upgrade existing infrastructure to full
  operational capacity requires an estimated
  financial allocation of R31bn.
• Current MIG allocations for both water and
  sanitation amount to R6.4bn (2011/12) of which
  50 may be assumed to be allocated to sanitation
• The allocation of the equitable share to
  operation and maintenance varies widely across
  municipalities, and being an unconditional grant,
  inadequate funds are generally allocated for
  maintenance
• Municipalities often re-allocate funding to other
  projects after the sanitation or water project
  has been approved. Hence the actual delivery may
  vary significantly from what is planned.

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Total direct conditional grants over MTEF R90.8
billion
Requirement R50 billion
Makes you think!!! What if Over next 3 years
most funding goes to water sanitation backlog
can be wiped out
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Key findings

• There has been progress in providing basic
  sanitation in the past decade those with no
  formal services have been reduced from 4,75m
  households to 2.41m households (during this
  period the number of households has increased
  from 11.9m to 13.4m)
• Quality and functional sanitation services are
  available to 64 of households
• 11 of households (1.4 million in formal and
  informal settlements)have never had any
  government sanitation intervention
• 26 of households have been provided with some
  form of sanitation service, but these need
  refurbishment, upgrading, extension or effective
  maintenance

26
Why havent we achieved success

• Key factors affecting sanitation service
  provision include
• Fragmentation of responsibilities for sanitation
  at national, provincial and local levels
• Lack of technical capacity at local government
  level
• High turn-over of staff (lack of focus on
  training and retention of staff)
• Ineffective support programmes to municipalities
  (e.g. from provincial and national government)
• Lack of adequate financial planning including
  inadequate budget allocations for maintenance by
  municipalities (e.g. from equitable share)
• Inappropriate use of allocated funds (e.g. funds
  channelled to roads at end of financial year to
  facilitate quick expenditure)
• Weak revenue management rising debt

27
Conclusions

• Planning poor planning, master plans, capital
  and finance plans, ownership
• Capacity technical and management - translating
  into poor programme and project management
• Funding use and ability to spend (implement)
  unders-pending on OM
• Institutional fragmentation roles and
  responsibilities regulatory ME activities
  minimal and diffuse
• Performance monitoring framework and KPIs are
  currently primarily for the Green Drop
  assessments. MIG has a reporting system, but is
  primarily populated with financial information
  from the municipalities. However various other
  frameworks and KPIs have been used in the past
  DWAF sanitation ME system CSIR spot check
  National sanitation sustainability audits

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Conclusions Community participation,
consultation and communication practices

• The policies related to the involvement of
  communities in decision making are well founded
  in a number of policy documents including those
  for water supply and sanitation.
• The practical application of the policies is not
  always in line with the policies, particularly
  when municipalities are hard-pressed to deliver

Principle to pay alignment with recent court
rulings

• The court rulings do not contradict the basic
  requirement that users are required to pay for
  the services received
• The court rulings emphasize the need to provide a
  service that is fully aligned to national norms
  and standards
• The free basic service policies sets the
  conditions for provision of free services to the
  poor and indigent

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Availability of quality and functional sanitation
services
Requirements to ensure an adequate level of
service

• Key requirements to improve the quality of
  sanitation provision
• The establishment of a single national sanitation
  unit within DWA with sufficient support to plan,
  regulate and monitor sanitation service provision
• Legislative amendments to resolve issues of
  oversight, planning, financial allocations and
  accountability
• Improved and coordinated support programmes to
  municipalities
• Upgrading of municipal staff skills (and/or the
  interim establishment of a municipal
  infrastructure support agency (national or 9
  provincial))
• Support on all basic services in municipalities
  where backlogs are most acute through service
  delivery management structures

30
Moving forward

• Given that government has set itself the target
  of achieving universal access to at least a
  functional and adequate basic sanitation service
  by 2014, the issues from this project will be
  presented to the Executive for discussion and
  action including resolving the problems with
  current institutional arrangements.
• Sense that key focus should be on households
  which are un-served or underserved and where
  access has not met performance norms and
  standards.

31
Ke ya leboga Ke a leboha Ke a
leboga Ngiyabonga Ndiyabulela Ngiyathokoza Ngiy
abonga Inkomu Ndi khou livhuha Thank
you Dankie
Go to http//www.thepresidency.gov.za/dpme.asp
for PME documentsincluding narrative guide to
outcomes approach, outcomes documents and
delivery agreement guide
32
Basic services Sanitation

• More than 340 000 households have gained access
  to at least a basic level of sanitation services
  between 2009 and 2011
• Access increased from 77 in 2009 to 82 in 2010
• However, rate of delivery is insufficient to
  reach target of 100 by 2014