Governments in many developing countries have stepped up efforts to provide water and sanitation services sustainably to as many people as possible. In some instances, time frames for provision of services to all of their citizens have been set. While these are commendable efforts, the question whether these services are provided efficiently remains unanswered. In South Africa, although the government conducts consumer satisfaction surveys, seldom are citizens consulted for their views. While its efforts have been hailed as a success in the postapartheid era, there have been many obstacles in the supply process. The assumption has been that the government knows what the citizens want and gives it them, irrespective of their concerns. This study interrogated this assumption as its overall research objective, aiming to evaluate whether a supply-driven approach is effective in satisfying the demands of the consumers. As such the study sought to gain insight into the perceptions of Ohlange Township residents in Inanda, Durban, regarding water supply and sanitation services. The study found out that many of these residents could not afford to pay for basic services, although they are currently expected to pay for some of the costs of service provision. However, in a resource-constrained environment, the government can no longer sustainably provide these services without recovering costs. In this case, the government faces the challenge of balancing its constitutional mandate of providing all citizens with basic services and the demand by the poor for improved services they cannot afford. In this case, supply-led delivery system is severely limited in fully addressing consumer demands. This approach also results in poor service delivery due to inefficient resource management. It also disempowers communities because they are not involved in decision-making processes. Based on the study findings, the demand-led approach, one that is consumer-driven, is recommended. This approach puts the consumer at the centre of the delivery of basic services; allows consumers to participate in decision-making processes and encourages them to honour their obligations by paying for the services received. 11 / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Water is essential to human survival, health, wellbeing and livelihoods. Access to sufficient water for consumption and domestic use is considered a basic need and a human right. Water use however, goes beyond basic needs; water is an asset important to livelihoods. There is a growing body of literature documenting water and livelihoods linkages, the gendered nature of water access, use and livelihoods however, is usually neglected. This case study investigates the gender, water and livelihoods interface in Mseleni, a rural community in KwaZulu Natal. 'Positive' (e.g. livelihoods enhancing) and 'negative' (e.g. livelihoods constraining) linkages are found. Access to a reliable, sufficient water supply increases the range of possible livelihood activities and has a 'multiplier' effect on livelihood outcomes. Poor water access results in health, opportunity and financial costs and furthermore, constrains livelihood activities; in particular agriculture. Where access is poor, there is a 'market' for selling water and water access, from which some people profit. Water access is influenced by inter and intra-household hierarchies: Gender, age, social status and class affect access to and control over resources and result in uneven accruement of the positive and negative water and livelihoods linkages. Technology, transport and money are potential levers which can alter the social relations of access. Recommendations are made on several levels to enhance livelihoods and advance gender equity: Factoring livelihoods water uses into definitions of basic needs and humans rights, norms, standards, policies and programmes. Working towards a more nuanced understanding of power relations at household and community level which influence water access and livelihood outcomes, coupled with commitment to support and empower disadvantaged people in rural areas to define their basic needs and claim their human rights. And the equitable roll-out of simple technologies, infrastructure and transport to deep rural areas in order to make water for livelihoods more accessible. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

The water sector in South Africa is in the delivery phase of its transformation process, with transformation having commenced in 1994. This transformation is not unlike developments in this sector in other developing countries. South Africa is facing huge backlogs in the provision of basic rural water and sanitation services (DWAF, 2002a, p.3), typical of the scenario facing international developing countries. The SA Government has committed itself to eliminate the basic water supply backlogs by 2008, and the basic sanitation backlogs by 2010 (DWAF, 2002b, p.ii). These targets are more ambitious than the international Millennium Development Goals of halving the world's population without adequate or safe drinking water, or access to basic sanitation by 2015 (WSSCC, 2002a, p.l). The research investigates whether the targets set by Government are achievable in the Province of Kwazulu-Natal (KZN). The South African targets were set ahead of the completion of the Water Services Development Plans or the planning required of the Water Services Authorities (WSAs) in KZN. Although some Municipalities, in their capacity as Water Services Authority, have completed their Water Services Development Plans, others are still in the process of doing so. The deficiency in the provision of basic water and sanitation services in KZN, has been ascertained in this investigation. Also ascertained are the costs and financial resources needed to address the backlogs in service provision and the constraints to delivery of the needed services. The research findings have shown that the backlog in basic water supply in KZN is approximately 3,66 million people, representing 38,2% of the KZN population, whilst the backlog in basic sanitation services is 4,94 million persons, representing some 51,4% of the KZN population. In a rural context only, these figures are appreciably higher. This investigation has shown that the targets set by Government to address rural backlogs in basic services in KZN are ambitious. In terms of planned programmes at Water Services Authority level, it will take an estimated average of 12 years to eliminate the basic water supply and sanitation backlog. The earliest and longest water supply delivery programme ranges from 5 years to 20 years, whilst that for sanitation delivery, ranges from 6 years to 33 years. These programmes far exceed Government's target dates. In terms of the research findings, the backlogs in basic water services in KwaZulu-Natal will require financial resources of R4,87 billion to totally eradicate all basic water backlogs. Similarly, to address the basic sanitation backlog has been estimated at R1,44 billion. It has been recommended in this report that with relatively little additional annual funding that it will be easier to achieve the government target of 2010 (DWAF, 2002b, p.ii) for sanitation delivery than it would for water supply. The planned level of sanitation service has been ascertained to be the VIP latrine in all cases, which does not require a water supply, and thus water and sanitation delivery programmes can be implemented separately. The investigation has revealed that there is sufficient grant funding available in South Africa to meet the planned basic water services delivery programmes of the WSAs, but their programmes exceed the target dates set by Government by many years. If the delivery programmes are accelerated to meet the Government's target dates, the current budget allocations of both DWAF and the Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Programme (CMIP) are insufficient. In the short-term, the WSAs are not expected to have sourced donor funding to assist with their planned delivery programmes. Thus funding sources within South Africa will initially have to be relied upon.Whilst planned programmes have been developed for the alleviation of water services backlogs in KZN, it has been recommended in the report that they need to be monitored to ensure delivery of services in terms of these programmes. This monitoring and certification of the implementation of planned programmes are essential management tools, as the current planned programmes of the WSAs do not meet the Government's targets of 2008 and 2010 respectively for the elimination of the basic water and sanitation backlogs (DWAF, 2002b, .ii). Financial budgets have been cited as being a problem area by most, but a higher priority problem appears to be the lack of institutional capacity at WSA level to ensure sustainability of projects/schemes in the post-construction phase. Should the projects/schemes not be adequately operated or maintained, it could lead to the implemented projects/schemes becoming defunct, which would negate the national initiatives aimed at backlog alleviation. It is fortunate that legislation such as the Municipal Systems Act (Act N° 32 of 2000) enables Local Government to implement a range of public and private water service provider options that can assist with the needed institutional capacity building, and to also render operations and maintenance services on a contract basis. It is evident from this investigation that a number of major obstacles may delay the achievement of either the planned delivery programmes of the WSAs, or the even greater challenges to meet the Government's targets. The successful, sustainable implementation of these programmes will be dependent on both sufficient funding being available and on solving the lack of institutional capacity. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003. / Umngeni Water.

Historically and to date, regional water services providers and municipalities have been undertaking their long-term planning in isolation. The only time there is an exchange of information is when water demands need to be met in the short-term and to date this focus has been around backlog alleviation. The fact that the long-term planning is being undertaken in isolation is undermining the objective of the Integrated Development Plan i.e. the co-ordination of development leading to an improvement in the quality of life for all. The purpose of this study was to identify the linkages between regional water service providers' water plans, the municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and Water Services Development Plans (WSDPs) with the goal of answering the following question: How can a regional water service provider's water planning process improve a municipal IDP process and how can a water service provider's water planning process benefit from a municipallDP process? To answer the research question, the study looked at the products and processes of the water plan, the IDPs and the WSDPs for Umgeni Water, The Msunduzi Municipality, Umgungundlovu District Municipality, Sisonke District Municipality, lIembe District Municipality, The KwaDukuza Municipality, uMshwathi Municipality and uMngeni Municipality. Comparing and contrasting the products of the different planning products for the study area, the following facets were investigated: the spatial location of investments/developments; how implementation was presented; demand projections and stakeholder participation. The study established that the preferred water planning process is Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) and not traditional water supply planning which has the master plan as its product. It was further established that both the IDP and IRP processes follow the strategic planning approach and therefore the generic steps in these processes are the same. The major difference between the two processes is the scale at which they occur. As the IRP process occurs over different municipal boundaries, it provides a check that alignment is occurring between the different municipalities at all levels of the project life-cycle. It was also established that alignment appears to be occurring at the conceptual/reconnaissance phases of the project lifecycle but it does not extend to the pre-feasibility, feasibility and implementation levels. Hence stakeholder co-ordination is critical for successful alignment but cannot be restricted to only forums; the relevant stakeholders should be part of the respective project teams for meaningful participation to occur. The overall conclusion was that a regional water service provider's IRP process can contribute to the successful accomplishment of an IDP. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

Water and sanitation provision is a matter of life and death to humans, since its absence and shortage may increase incidences of waterborne diseases as well as have adverse effects on the learning environment at schools. Every human has a right to an adequate water supply as well as to proper sanitation services. The two cannot be separated; absence of either can have dire public health implications. Schools are an extension of communities and can therefore be seen as a reflection of societal trends and infrastructural conditions. In South Africa the national ministry of water affairs is the main custodian of water and sanitation services to all. However it is the responsibility of the education ministry to provide and extend water and sanitation services and build infrastructure in schools. One of the principles in the water and sanitation policy stipulates that the state has an obligation for ensuring service delivery within available resources. Other relevant stakeholders need to assist the government to augment service delivery. It is against this background that the study focuses on exploring the extent to which stakeholders are involved in providing water services to schools and whether their involvement has resulted in any service delivery improvement or not. The main themes explored in the study include profiling and demographics of the schools, the state of sanitation facilities and water infrastructure, operation and management of sanitation facilities and public health issues. The study also aims to provide an insight into service delivery challenges and includes success stories where partnerships have been involved. The study draws from theories that link water and sanitation to public health, child development and gender based on the human rights principles. Literature on various forms of institutional arrangements is explored in order to understand the regulatory framework upon which service delivery is based. The main findings indicated that sanitation facilities in the rural schools are generally poor unless there has been some type of intervention. Although it is the municipality’s responsibility to ensure potable water is supplied at a local level, these services are often not provided. Service delivery seems to be very slow for most schools. Stakeholder involvement has been at the level of providing infrastructure for the schools, whereas operations and maintenance has remained the responsibility of schools. There are still huge challenges for the government to improve service delivery in schools especially those in the rural areas. and shortage may increase incidences of waterborne diseases as well as have adverse effects on the learning environment at schools. Every human has a right to an adequate water supply as well as to proper sanitation services. The two cannot be separated; absence of either can have dire public health implications. Schools are an extension of communities and can therefore be seen as a reflection of societal trends and infrastructural conditions. In South Africa the national ministry of water affairs is the main custodian of water and sanitation services to all. However it is the responsibility of the education ministry to provide and extend water and sanitation services and build infrastructure in schools. One of the principles in the water and sanitation policy stipulates that the state has an obligation for ensuring service delivery within available resources. Other relevant stakeholders need to assist the government to augment service delivery. It is against this background that the study focuses on exploring the extent to which stakeholders are involved in providing water services to schools and whether their involvement has resulted in any service delivery improvement or not. The main themes explored in the study include profiling and demographics of the schools, the state of sanitation facilities and water infrastructure, operation and management of sanitation facilities and public health issues. The study also aims to provide an insight into service delivery challenges and includes success stories where partnerships have been involved. The study draws from theories that link water and sanitation to public health, child development and gender based on the human rights principles. Literature on various forms of institutional arrangements is explored in order to understand the regulatory framework upon which service delivery is based. The main findings indicated that sanitation facilities in the rural schools are generally poor unless there has been some type of intervention. Although it is the municipality’s responsibility to ensure potable water is supplied at a local level, these services are often not provided. Service delivery seems to be very slow for most schools. Stakeholder involvement has been at the level of providing infrastructure for the schools, whereas operations and maintenance has remained the responsibility of schools. There are still huge challenges for the government to improve service delivery in schools especially those in the rural areas. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Desalination of seawater is a widely used technology throughout the world, but is not commonly used in South Africa for domestic water supply. The reasons for this are varied, but very often are based on the assumption that desalination is extremely costly in relation to more traditional water supplies. An economic analysis is undertaken comparing the cost of supplying water to the coastal town of Zinkwazi from various sources including desalination using reverse osmosis. Zinkwazi has an existing borehole water supply that is insufficient to meet current and future demands. The town is also remote from regional bulk surface water infrastructure, which makes it suitable for the investigation of an alternative stand-alone water supply such as desalination. Solving the water supply problems at Zinkwazi is important to Umgeni Water and would support two broad strategic goals of the organisation. Zinkwazi falls within the Ilembe District Municipality, which is an important stakeholder within Umgeni Water's area of jurisdiction. Improving the water supply situation at Zinkwazi is in line with Umgeni Water's goal of assisting Municipalities to meet their developmental objectives. Using desalination to meet this objective is in line with Umgeni Water's goal of using innovative products to alleviate problems of existing customers. Desalination is a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing as traditional surface and goundwater resources become fully utilized and more polluted. Desalination potentially represents a growth opportunity that Umgeni Water, with its expertise in water treatment and supply, could pursue in Africa and Southern Africa in particular. The investigation found that desalination is the most affordable method of supplying water to the town of Zinkwazi and the construction of a desalination pilot plant is recommended for further investigation. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

Through a case study of the Umdoni Local Municipality the study assessed the claims made in the Ugu District Municipality 2008 Report that eMalangeni and eMahlongwa communities have achieved 100 percent water provision. Furthermore, the study used the Rostowrian‟s four of the five-stage model of development to interrogate whether water service provision has improved the standard of living of the people in these two communities. The findings of this study reveal that there is a positive correlation between the installation of water standpipes and an improvement of the standard of living, though it is spread unevenly in these areas. The study concludes that government departments such as the Departments of Water Affairs and Forestry, Agriculture and Rural Development and Land Reform should forge strong relationships aimed at assisting the UDM to achieve its prime objective of improving the quality of life of all who fall under its jurisdiction. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Water resources are a crucial resource in a large proportion of economic activity, both in rural and urban areas and resource sharing has become an increasingly important concept to achieve equitable distribution of scarce resources which are social-ecological, socio-economic and political in their nature (Breen et al., 2003). Water scarcity and the increased demand from high value water users have decreased opportunities for increased stakeholder participation. The National Water Act of 1998 is part of environmental legislation promulgated to redress the historical inequitable access to natural resources. Previous studies (Versfeld, 2000; Schreiner and van Koppen, 2001; Armitage et al., 1999; van Wyk et al., 2006) have indicated that the current allocation mechanism of compulsory licensing, mainly in the agricultural sector, has not resulted in meaningful resource sharing or empowerment as agriculture does not seem to perform as well as other water use sectors in terms of provision of economic benefits. Within the context of striving for greater equity and empowerment (1) in resource sharing, the key issues of participatory governance of water resources in creating sustainable revenue from sharing water resources are evaluated in this study as a basis for the aim of investigating water trading as a suitable allocation mechanism to promote equitable water resource sharing. Resource sharing will “ultimately rest on negotiated trade-offs between resource users” (van Wyk et al., 2006:9) and there are therefore two considerations for achieving equity in water allocation: capacity through legislative means, and stakeholder perception of how access to resources can be beneficial, which will in turn “influence how human behaviour, and ultimately resource use patterns, evolve” (van Wyk et al., 2006:7). Traditionally, water has been allocated as a usufructuary resource in value chains, such as agriculture, forestry, mining and industry, in addition to fulfilling its function within the Reserve for ecological and basic human needs. Water thus becomes an integral part of a value chain which extends from allocation and conservation of water resources, through various production functions, culminating in the consumption and disposal functions associated with products created from use of water, in other words, a tradable economic commodity (Backeberg, 1997). The objectives which guide this research are focussed on understanding the dynamics of the water value chain and status of resource sharing, and whether water trading can promote empowerment through increased resource sharing and creation of benefits. The objectives are: I. Using value chain methods to understand the status of resource sharing in the Mhlatuze Catchment. II. Using a value chain method of analysis to identify constraints to empowerment of rural communities within the water sector, and identify how water trading as an allocation mechanism could provide potential solutions. III. Investigate the stakeholder perception of the suitability of water trading in promoting resource sharing through empowerment. Using the value chain methodology to understand the dynamics driving stakeholder participation and production functions, the resulting water sector map was used to identify flow of benefits and constraints in creating benefits from access to water. Further analysis of the value chain explored the possibility of enhancing governance through increasing subjective, objective and competency based capacity. Inductive qualitative research investigated the acceptance of water trading as an allocation mechanism which could improve empowerment in the context of resource sharing. This methodology could be replicated to investigate the potential of any resource allocation policy. Preliminary literature reviews revealed the Mhlatuze catchment as a suitable case study area as it is an over-allocated system (Versfeld, 2000; Pott et al., 2005) in which the compulsory licensing mechanism is being implemented. The majority of economic activity still takes place through commercial agriculture and industry in the middle and lower catchment, although demand for water exceeds supply within these groups of participants, whilst the majority of the population resides in the upper catchment. The sector map identified the status of the stakeholders and the extent to which they participated and interacted within the value chain. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted with previously identified participants selected from each of the main groups in the value chain to determine whether there was understanding of the empowerment possibilities presented by water trading as an allocation mechanism. The findings of the sector study showed that the rural poor communities were an integral part of the water value chain, although the status of creation of benefits was limited to those who had access to additional resources to create revenue from water use. Analysis of the value chain indicated that benefits could be created from water trading without having to increase the resource base, important in the context of scarce resources. In addition, the ability of poor communities to participate in the value chain through water trading, as opposed to traditional resource hungry production functions, has the potential to create meaningful empowerment in terms of improving the confidence, opportunity and capacity of these stakeholders to participate in creating benefits. The discussions with stakeholders indicated that water trading as an allocation mechanism would more likely lead to empowerment of previously disadvantaged communities whilst not adversely affecting current value chain actors by disenfranchising them of a necessary resource as could happen through compulsory re-allocation. (1) Empowerment in this dissertation is defined as procedures and legislation which improve access to, and use of, resources in order to create beneficial outcomes for the previously disadvantaged groups in South Africa. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.B.A.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermartzburg, 2006.

The connection between water and human wellbeing is increasingly causing concern about the implications of water scarcity on poverty. The primary fear is that water scarcity may not only worsen poverty, but may also undermine efforts to alleviate poverty and food insecurity. A review of literature revealed that the relationship between water scarcity and poverty is a complex one, with water scarcity being both a cause and consequence of poverty. Furthermore, water scarcity is multidimensional, which makes it difficult to define, while it can also vary considerably, both temporally and spatially. Finally, the relationship between water scarcity and poverty is a difficult one to quantify. Within the context of water scarcity, indicators are viewed by many development analysts as appropriate tools for informing and orienting policy-making, for comparing situations and for measuring performance. However, simplistic traditional indicators cannot capture the complexity of the water-poverty link; hence a proliferation of more sophisticated indicators and indices since the early 1990s. The Water Poverty Index (WPI), one of these new indices, assesses water scarcity holistically. Water poverty derives from the conceptualisation of this index which relates dimensions of poverty to access to water for domestic and productive use. However, the WPI has not been applied extensively at meso-catchment scale, the scale at which water resources managers operate. In South Africa, the Thukela Catchment -in the province of KwaZulu-Natal presents a unique opportunity to assess the WPI at this scale. The Thukela is a diverse catchment with respect to physiography, climate and (by extension) natural vegetation, land use, demography, culture and economy. While parts of the catchment are suitable for intensive agricultural production and others are thriving economic centres, a large percentage of the population in the catchment lives in poverty in high risk ecosystems, with their vulnerability exacerbated by policies of the erstwhile apartheid government. Many rural communities, a high percentage of which occupy these naturally harsh areas, have low skills levels, with a high proportion of unemployed people, low or no income and low services delivery. Infrastructural development, which relates to municipal service delivery, is often made prohibitively expensive by the rugged terrain in which many people live. As in other catchments in South Africa, the Thukela is affected by policies and initiatives aimed at accomplishing the objectives of post-1994 legislation such as the South Africa Constitution and the National Water Act. The potential of the WPI to assess the impacts of these initiatives on human wellbeing and to inform decision .making in the Thukela catchment was investigated. An analysis of a 46 year long series of monthly summations of daily values of streamflows output by the ACRU agrohydrological simulation model has shown that the Thukela, in its entirety , is a water-rich catchment. The reliability of the streamflows, which has implications for communities who collect water directly from 1 streams, is high along main channels but can be considerably less along low order tributaries of the main streams. The flow reliability along the small tributaries is less in winter than in summer. A high percentage of the catchment's population, in addition to being poor and not having access to municipal services, live near, and rely on, the small tributaries for their water supplies. Admittedly, this analysis addresses only one dimension of water poverty, viz. physical water shortage. Nevertheless, the study revealed that despite the Thukela's being a water-rich catchment, many communities are still water stressed. A more holistic characterisation of the water scarcity situation in the Thukela catchment was achieved using the WPI. A review of possible information sources for computing the WPI in South Africa found that many monitoring programmes, information systems and databases are either in existence and are active, or being restructured, or are under different stages of development. If and when they are all fully functional , they should be able to support national assessments of the WPI at meso-scale without the need to collect additional information. A combination of information from some of the active databases and secondary data from other local studies was used to compute the WPI in the Thukela catchment. The assessment uncovered the following: • There is an apparent association between water poverty and socio-economic disadvantage in the Thukela catchment. • There was an improvement in the water poverty situation in most parts of the Thukela catchment between 1996 and 2001, although the degree of improvement varied from subcatchment to subcatchment. Climate change, if it manifests itself by higher temperatures and reduced rainfall, will most likely worsen water poverty throughout the Thukela catchment, with the subcatchments in which many of the poor communities are located being more likely to experience the most severe impacts as the coping capacities of those communities are already strained under current climatic conditions. The findings of this study illustrate the potential of WPI as a tool for informing decision making and policy evaluation at the meso-catchment scale at which many water-related decisions are made. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.