The water cycle: a periurban look

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The water cycle a peri-urban look

• Pascale Hofmann
• Development Planning Unit
• University College London
• International Workshop
• 17-18 October 2005, Cape Town, South Africa

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The Water Cycle
Extraction
Treatment Storage
Distribution
Disposal
Access
Use Reuse
3
The Water Cycle
Usually state-controlled and large-scale
Small-scale (informal) extraction in PUI
(private) desalination plants
EXTRACTION
Regulation or education to prevent
over-extraction?
Limited community involvement
4
The Water Cycle
Mainly public sector responsibility
Community involvement to supervise quality of
water
private sector involvement - economic viability
- indirect benefits for peri-urban poor?
TREATMENT STORAGE
Community storage facilities
Storage is important in PUI where water is not
availablea) at hh levelb) on a regular basis
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The Water Cycle
Water for free or water against a charge?
History of community involvement in water
distribution
DISTRIBUTION
1) Subsidisation 2) Collaboration with the
community
Arrangements with neighbour and other informal
practices in the PUI
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The Water Cycle
Peri-urban poor depend on informal system pay a
higher price
real participation of peri-urban poor to
improve access
High flexibility of informal private system suits
the poor
ACESS
Disaggregation of the poor importance of gender
dimension
Formal (private) system is regularised and less
flexible
Capability of communities to mobilise and
organsie themselves quickly
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The Water Cycle
Reuse of water needs to be incorporated into the
regulatory system
Accumulation of practices benefitting from
wastewater reuse in PUI
USE REUSE
Health safety
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The Water Cycle
Formal and informal involvement of the private
sector
Household responsibility vs. awareness raising at
community level
How to safely dispose of wastewater/excreta and
who pays for it?
DISPOSAL/SANITATION
Pros and Cons of cooperative systems
Community involvement in management of facilities
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Key issues for WSS in the PUI

• The peri-urban context brings a multiplicity of
  agents and diversity of providers
• Peri-urban communities are not only users but
  also producers
• Alternative WSS systems are crucial especially in
  the PUI
• Consideration of poor communities
• Replication of community pilot projects poses a
  challenge
• Community linking up with other partners
• Higher provision standards required by public
  sector

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Key issues for WSS in the PUI

• PUI practice influencing policies
• Rural or urban focus of national and external
  support
• Lack of coordination between ESAs
• Sector wide approaches
• Orientation towards central and conventional
  systems
• Decentralised approach
• What type of decentralisation?
• Feasibility for different contexts?
• Which steps in the water cycle?