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Water and Sanitation. April 2003. Overview of the Sector. Crucial for improving health, alleviating poverty and facilitating economic development Represents a significant commitment of resources National budget allocation is R3,1 billion Municipal budgets contribution is R11 billion
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Water and Sanitation April 2003
Overview of the Sector • Crucial for improving health, alleviating poverty and facilitating economic development • Represents a significant commitment of resources • National budget allocation is R3,1 billion • Municipal budgets contribution is R11 billion • Water boards’ are approximately R4 billion • Staff compliments are 9 900, 12 000 and 6 800 respectively for national, municipalities water boards’, about 29 000 personnel • Est 8100 staff to be transferred from national to municipalities
Institutional & Legal Framework • Complex sector involving a wide range of organisations • Primary responsibility for water services rests with municipalities as water services authority • DWAF performs functions in both water resources and water services • Water boards’ are mainly responsible for bulk water provision • Complexities has implications for coordination and accountability and capital investment for new infrastructure and rehabilitation
Free Basic Services • It is estimated that 76% of municipalities provide the first 6kl of water free • wide ranging levels from 1.2 kl to 12 kl • The free basic services policy does not extend to sanitation at this stage • Information on how free basic services are provided in rural areas is poor
Trends in Expenditure and Budgets • Budget of the national DWAF amounted to R3,7 billion in 2002/03 • An increase of 7.2% over the previous year’s budget • Water Resource Management received an average of 24% over a seven year period • Water Services received an average of 59% of total budget over a seven year period • In 2002/03, the national budget provided R1 billion for basic water and sanitation infrastructure and R700 million for the operation of water services
Trends in Expenditure and Budgets cont... • Water Boards • Combined revenues grew by 9.7% from R4.1 billion to R4.5 billion in 2002/03 • Combined capital budget grew by 13.9% from R587 million to R669 million • Operating budgets grew by 10.3% from R1.8 billion to R2 billion in 2002/03 • Five water boards generate 91% of all revenues • Capital spending varies among the boards with the smaller water boards having no capital expenditure
Trends in Expenditure and Budgets cont... • Municipal Budgets • Water and sanitation not a ring-fenced service, but estimates are that municipalities will spend about R11 billion in 2002-03 • Operating expenditure is estimated to be R9 billion (R4,4 billion for bulk water, R2 billion for salaries, R600 million for repairs and maintenance and R2 billion for other) • Combined capital budget is R2 billion with metros spending about R700 million, category B municipalities R1 billion and category C municipalities spending R300 million • Poor rural municipalities with the greatest backlogs show very low levels of capital expenditure • Difficult to assess whether municipalities are realising surpluses from water and sanitation services • High levels of water losses is a cause for concern
Personnel in the Sector • Total number of personnel employed in the sector between DWAF, Water Boards and municipalities is around 29 000 • Within DWAF, staff numbers in the Water Resource Management programme have risen from 3364 in 1999/00 to 4104 in 2003/04 • This is an increase of 22% • The average employee cost for the water programme in DWAF is R65 000 in 2002/03 • DWAF expects to transfer 8 168 personnel to local government in the next 3 years • 15 Water Boards employ over 6 700 personnel at average salary of R117 235 p.a. • Rand Water is the biggest employer • 3 172 staff • Personnel expenditure about R423m p.a • Average cost per employee of R133 417
Water Resources - Users • Categories of users • Domestic (rural and urban) • Commercial (e.g. offices, shops, schools) • Industrial and mining • Irrigation and agriculture • The environment as water is reserved to sustain aquatic ecosystems • Irrigation is the largest user (59%) followed by urban (25%)
Water Resources Strategy • National Water Act establishes structures to strategically and effectively manage scarce water resources • Water Management Areas (WMAs) • Local Catchment Management Agencies (CMAs) • Water User Associations (WUAs) • Special purpose vehicles such as Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority
Water Tariffs and Pricing • Price increases fuel inflation • These were above 10% in the past 3 years • Major component of retail water cost derives from cost of bulk water supply • Tariff structures are regulated by DWAF at municipal level • Rising block tariffs are predominantly applied, with the first block from 0 to 6kl/month free • Steep increases in block tariffs above the 6kl per month adversely affects poor households
Challenges facing Sanitation • Provision of sanitation is costly and expensive for water-borne systems • High costs impact negatively on free basic services • Sanitation tariff policies vary considerably across municipalities • Gaps exist with regard to sanitation policy on private land • DWAF deliberating on the issue