The Role of Municipalities in Water Conservation: Planning, Services, and Partnerships

1. PRESENTATION TO PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON WATER AFFAIRS AND FORESTRY The role of municipalities in managing and giving effect to water conservation Cindy Damons 28 May 2008

2. Presentation Outline • Introduction • Municipal services: the mandate • Municipal services: the current situation • The role of the dplg • Access to service provision • Understanding Water Conservation • Partnerships to provide services • Planning for municipal service provision (IDP) • Conclusion – Towards defining the role of the dplg

3. Introduction: The mandate • To fulfil government’s constitutional obligation of providing services, municipalities are mandated to provide access to basic municipal services. • Basic municipal services defined as: a service that is necessary to ensure an acceptable and reasonable quality of life and which if not provided, would endanger public health, safety and the environment (MSA, No32 of 2000). • Sector departments have respective sector policies and strategies that specify what should be implemented and they provide the necessary technical standards and norms.

4. The current situation • It is established that municipalities are not delivering municipal services in a sustainable manner. • Factors constraining municipal performance relates to planning, implementation and monitoring systems failure and the non-compliance with basic principles relating to sustainable service provision. (source: Guidelines on sustainable municipal infrastructure provision and service delivery, the dplg, 2007) • In line with the developmental role of local government, municipalities are best placed to work with communities to find sustainable ways to meet the service delivery needs and improve the quality of life. • We need our municipalities to succeed.

5. Current situation and role of the dplg • The lack of delivery of sustainable services can be attributed to: • The lack of clarification of roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in provision of services. • The lack of guidelines on municipal infrastructure and services support. • The lack of organisational capacity of municipalities especially in specialist fields such as engineering and accounting. • The lack of clear common principles on sustainable service delivery. (source: Guidelines on sustainable municipal infrastructure provision and service delivery, the dplg) • As coordinating department, the dplg has the responsibility to clarify the roles and responsibilities for service provision. • It shall work with sector departments to develop guidelines towards a multi-dimensional targeted approach to support municipalities to respond to their service delivery challenges.

6. Providing access to services The Water Services Act aims to provide amongst other objectives: • The right of access to basic water supply and the right to basic sanitation necessary to secure sufficient water and an environment not harmful to human health or well-being, • The promotion of effective water resource management and conservation The Water Services Act requires that municipalities draw up water services development plan (WSDP). The purpose of a WSDP is to progressively ensure efficient, affordable, economical and sustainable access to water services The WSDP must be integrated with the integrated development plan (IDP) of the municipality, as required by the Municipal Systems Act

7. Proper planning and basic services The White Paper on Local Government (1998) stipulates that IDP’s will be tools for municipalities to articulate and formalise their support-, medium-and and long term goals for: _ Meeting the municipalities basic needs • Ensuring the sustainable provision of municipal services • Promoting social and economic development • The IDP : • Provides a structure for preparing development plans and co-ordinating development activities • Provides a guide for more detailed planning, budgeting, capacity building and implementation

8. Proper planning and basic services To prepare a WSDP, the municipality must • Understand the water services business • Make key decisions about water services targets • Plan towards achieving those targets • The WSDP therefore encourages proper planning for water services and helps in monitoring progress of water conservation / demand management initiatives at municipality level. • Through adequate planning,attention is given to water issues to prevent ineffective use of water resources and misalignment of grant funds for service delivery infrastructure investment . • Every water services authority has a duty to all consumers or potential consumers in its area of jurisdiction to progressively ensure efficient, affordable, economical and sustainable access to water services.

9. Providing access to services In providing access the services, the Water Services Act (Act 108 of 1997) calls on local government to take into account: • Alternative ways of providing access to water services; • The need for regional efficiency; and • The need for low costs. • This allows authorities to explore different levels of service that can be better managed and are more affordable. The need for regional efficiency allows for the introduction of integrated regional demand management strategies. “The real benefit of planning lies not in the plans that come out of it, but in the thinking and debate that go into it.” A D Manning 1998

10. Providing access to services In providing access the services, the Water Services Act (Act 108 of 1997) calls on local government to take into account: • Alternative ways of providing access to water services; • The need for regional efficiency; and • The need for low costs. • This allows authorities to explore different levels of service that can be better managed and are more affordable. The need for regional efficiency allows for the introduction of integrated regional demand management strategies. Towards … Water Conservation and Demand Management

11. Understanding Water Conservation South Africa is a developing country that is water scarce and stressed. In this context the importance of water conservation and demand management (WC/DM) can not be over emphasised • Water conservation (WC)is the minimisation of water loss, the care and protection of water resources, and the efficient and effective use of water. • Demand management (DM) is the implementation of a strategy by an institution to influence water demand and usage in order to meet any of the following objectives: economic efficiency, social development, social equity, environmental protection, sustainability of water services or political acceptability. WC&DM = an integral part of water services provision WC& DM = addressed in the practical application of providing service delivery solutions.

12. WC & DM and access to services • First step towards optimising water supply arrangements is to reduce water losses by properly implementing water loss management. (FBS Lessons Series and Project Consolidate Knowledge Series) • Adequate revenue management and payment of services will impact and encourage water demand management (e.g. Giyani) • Application of appropriate tariffs (i.e. paying for the real value of water) will impact water demand = water conservation (e.g. Ndlambe) • The process of refining and improving planning incorporated in the Water Services Development Plan will result in addressing the above. • Means to improve service delivery = establishment of partnerships and improved planning

13. Community Participation The White Paper on Local Government visualises a process where communities will be involved in governance matters, including planning, implementation and performance monitoring and review……..communities would be empowered to identify their need, set performance indicators and targets and thereby hold municipalities accountable for their performance in service delivery. Where ward committees exist as the principal or main form of community participation, there is an obligation on the municipality to involve these committees in the setting of key performance indicators and targets

14. Partnerships towards improved service provision • Partnering in infrastructure delivery = to assist the municipality to fulfil their obligations to their communities. • A municipality must decide on a mechanism to provide a service in the municipality (Following S78 process). • This can result in providing the services themselves, an internal mechanism or through an external mechanism • Service provider arrangements can include: • Public-Public partnerships • Municipal entity • Contracting out • Community Development Workers & Ward Structures

15. Conclusion • Through preparing a WSDP and IDP, municipalities have the responsibility to give effect to WC&DM within their area of jurisdiction. • Although local government is best placed to ensure service delivery, all three spheres of government play a significant part in the fulfilment of the objectives for infrastructure provision and service delivery. • There can not be effective service delivery without adequate planning towards improved WC&DM. (Failure of the water resource will result in failure of service delivery).