African Water Development Report 2006 - United Nations Economic ...

African Water Development Report 2006Ghana Water Company, after futile attempts atimproving the efficiency of the distribution networkwith World Bank support of about $US 6million, came to the conclusion that an urgentneed existed for capital investment that couldonly be found through private participation inwater distribution. There is, however, a strongopposition to this recommendation from somepolitical parties, NGOs and some sections of theurban population.It is now generally accepted that water is notonly an economic good but also a social good.This means that any new strategy must not onlybe based on pure economic and financial considerationsbut should also take account of theneed for equity and the basic needs of the poorand vulnerable and therefore recognising the intrinsicvalue of water. One of the bones of contentionin the Ghanaian debate regarding tariffsis on how to define the socially necessary waterdemand. While the NGOs prefer a geographicalapproach based on level of affluence, the officialsources opt for a fixed monthly volume of waterto be socially priced within a rising block tariffsystem. It must be noted that due to lack of dataon African residential households, this type oftariff system more often leads to the poor subsidizingthe more affluent households (AndahK. 2002). In the absence of an effective controland regulatory body for monitoring water supplyand sanitation provision by public and municipalinstitutions, the question arises as to which bodywould defend the poorer sections of the societyfrom a privatized system.Sustainable Water Use in AfricaAs said earlier, the value of water becomes complexwhen viewed from an African perspective,where modern economic values are interspersedwith traditional values and, more importantly,from a socio-economic point of view. Two cardinalissues of sustainable development of Africaconcern: (a) universal access to safe drinking waterand sanitation and food security and (b) theirattendant impacts of health burden and famine.It must be emphasised that, in Africa, the lack ofaccess to and control over water is both a primaryindicator and a primary cause of poverty. Fromthese emerge various value perspectives whichhave to be taken into consideration when consideringsustainable use of water in Africa, including,as Jack Moss el al. (2003) outlines:(a) The environmental value of healthy aquaticecosystems and the things that depend onthem such as fisheries, tourism, recreation,survival of all species including humans;(b) The social values of water the substance,water resources, and water services. This includessub-categories such as the value ofuniversal water supply service (100 per centcoverage) or subsidized water supplies forthe poor. These issues are also clearly relatedto the concept of a human right to water;(c) The value of public health which, in Africa,becomes an intersection between the socialand economic values of water and, thereforecentral to social and economic developmentand the quality of human life;(d) Economic values such as operational andallocational efficiency as regards wastage inwater supply and irrigation;(e) The value of water in production and productuse, especially for water-dependent industriesand agriculture;(f ) The value of low-priced water (and otherbasic services) to politicians whose re-electionor continuation in power depends onthe perception that they are serving theirconstituencies.(g) Values relating to gender.This calls for bridging the value divide betweenthose who by valuing efficiency over equity tendto support development of water markets andthose who by valuing equity more tend to opposeextension of water markets. In Africa, when waterthe substance is readily available and agriculture,domestic and other water uses are economicallyefficient, the resultant improvement in foodsecurity and public health would go a long way294