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WATER COOPERATION, SUSTAINABILITY AND POVERTY ERADICATIONdialogue around water and sanitation issues, holding regularconsultation meetings to improve corporate strategy and bettermeet the expectations of society.Sustainable water managementAs part of its vision to promote access to water, sanitation, wastewatertreatment and waste management in developing countries, SuezEnvironnement has adopted a new approach to setting up contractswith public authorities. To ensure more successful outcomes, thegroup has developed more flexible contractual models, which allowthe parties involved to work on initiatives that are best suited to localrequirements and specifically meet local environmental challenges.By allowing them to develop tools, processes and methodologiesthat work specifically for local communities, they are more likely toengender trust, promote awareness, transfer knowledge and achievelong-term success.Management contracts, such as those that Suez Environnementhas signed in Algiers, Algeria; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Johannesburg,South Africa; and Amman, Jordan, clearly illustrate the developmentof this new strategy. In short, it requires two parties to commit to aprecise action plan and then deliver on it. This involves setting up alocal training team to share Suez Environnement’s expertise, workingwith the community to roll out a jointly-defined programme, ensuringpublic investments are made in network modernisation andexpansion, and making a commitment to improve service quality.The case of AlgiersBefore 2006, the majority of the population in Algiers, around3.2 million people, did not have reliable access to drinking water.Sometimes running water was available for just a few hours per dayor a few days per week. The main causes of this were an insufficientwater supply, obsolete infrastructures and serious leaks in the waternetwork, which restricted the amount of water thatcould be provided. Moreover, the bay of Algiers waspolluted: sewers weren’t maintained, and wastewaterpumping stations and treatment plants were either stillunder construction or being renovated. This resulted inonly six per cent of wastewater being treated.To deal with this situation, the Algerian public authoritiesdecided to implement a national water managementstrategy. The objective was to improve the population’swater supply, redevelop the sanitation system and encouragewaste reduction, beginning with Algiers in 2006 andthen moving onto the country’s other main cities in 2008– Oran, Constantine and Annaba. The Algerian authoritieswere commited to maintaining water and sanitationas public services. The tariff, fixed at national level, hasnot been changed since 2006. Socially sustainable, it isprogressive to discourage wasting water and with a socialtariff addressing low-income households.Suez Environnement and the Algerian state workedclosely together to evaluate the situation and developan action plan that met objectives. Water authorities,including the Algérienne des Eaux (ADE) and theOffice National de l’Assainissement (ONA), createdthe Société des Eaux et de l’Assainissement d’Alger(SEAAL), the public Algerian company that would beresponsible for overseeing all water and wastewaterservices across Algiers and Tipaza. To ensure SEAALcould handle this responsibility, it was allocatedsignificant public funding and human resources. Theauthorities also signed a five-and-a-half-year managementcontract with Suez Environnement. In 2011, thiswas renewed for a further five years (2011-2016).Image: Suez Environnement, Krista BoggsImage: Suez Environnement, Krista BoggsBy sharing its expertise with SEAAL workers, Suez Environnement is helping toempower the Algerian companyOne of Suez Environnement’s main objectives is to improve watersanitation services[ 234 ]