Dissertation (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Municipal water distribution maintenance is very important for sustainable urban development. Water pipe breaks result not only in a disruption in service but also in significant loss of water, which otherwise could have been sold to the consumer. In countries where water is scarce, such as South Africa, water losses can be detrimental to the living standard of people. Water pipe breaks can furthermore cause extensive damage to nearby lower-lying properties. Existing decision support systems available in the field of water distribution system maintenance are mainly focused on leak detection and pipe rehabilitation/replacement strategy. These existing systems, however, do not address the actual causes of pipe breaks and pipe break impact is also not supported. The aim of this research is to develop a spatial decision support system (SDSS) for pipe break susceptibility analysis and impact assessment. The engineer (or public works administrator) can apply the SDSS to model the complex pipe break phenomena in the municipal water distribution system. The SDSS can identify pipes susceptible to breaking and pipes with potentially high break impact as far as water loss and damage caused to nearby property are concerned. This combined pipe break susceptibility analysis and potential impact assessment should promote more informed decision-making on preventative maintenance measures to be taken and their prioritisation. The dissertation consists offive parts. In the first part (Chapters 1-4) theories on information systems, fuzzy logic, object-oriented modelling, Unified Modelling Language (UML) and pipe break causes are presented. This literature review provides a basis on which the SDSS for pipe break susceptibility analysis and impact assessment can be developed. In the second part (Chapter 5) the general user requirements and design of the SDSS are given. The general SDSS architecture, the general system functionality and the user interface are described and designed in this part of the dissertation. The third part (Chapter 6) provides the detailed user requirements and design of the subsystems of the SDSS. Specialised functionality for pipe break susceptibility analysis and impact assessment is added to the general design of the SDSS. Subsystems are designed for analysing the pipe break susceptibility due to age, air-pocket formation and tree-root attack. Pipe break impact assessment subsystems are also designed for assessing water loss and potential damage caused to nearby property. Finally, a combined analysis subsystem is designed for combined pipe break susceptibility analysis and impact assessment. In the fourth part (Chapter 7), the SDSS is applied to the water distribution system of the Paarl Municipality to identify pipes in the network that have both high break susceptibility and also high break impact. The pipe break susceptibility analysis model of the SDSS is also tested and calibrated by comparing the model results with actual pipe break occurrence data of the study area. The final chapter (Chapter 8) contains the summary and recommendations regarding the functionality of the newly developed SDSS. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die instandhouding van munisipale waterverspreidingstelsels is uiters belangrik vir volhoubare stedelike ontwikkeling. Waterpypbreuke lei nie alleenlik tot onderbreking in diensverskaffing nie, maar ook tot beduidende waterverlies en verlies aan inkomste uit waterverkope. In lande waar water skaars is, soos in Suid-Afrika, kan waterverliese die lewenstandaard van die bevolking nadelig beïnvloed. Waterpypbreuke kan ook groot skade aan naby-geleë laag-liggende eiendomme aanrig. Besluitnemingstelsels tans beskikbaar op die gebied van instandhouding van waterverspreidingstelsels is hoofsaaklik gerig op lekkasie-opsporing en pyprehabilitasie- en pypvervangingstrategieë. Hierdie bestaande stelsels spreek egter nie die eintlike oorsake van pypbreuke aan nie, daar word ook nie op die impak van pypbreuke ingegaan nie. Die doelwit van hierdie navorsing is om 'n ruimtelike besluitnemingstelsel (RBS) - vir pypbreuk-risiko-analise en impakberaming te ontwikkel. Die ingenieur (of stelselbestuurder) kan met behulp van die RBS die komplekse pypbreukverskynsel in 'n munisipale waterverspreidingstelsel modelleer. Die RBS kan pype met hoë breek-potensiaal identifiseer asook pype wat, indien dit breek, groot waterverlies of skade aan naby-geleë eiendomme sal veroorsaak. Hierdie gekombineerde pypbreuk-risiko-analise en impakberaming behoort meer oordeelkundige besluitneming te bevorder deur beter prioritisering van voorkomende instandhoudingsmaatreëls en die uitvoering daarvan. Die proefskrif bestaan uit vyf dele. In die eerste deel (Hoofstukke 1-4) word die teorieë oor inligtingstelsels, 'fuzzy logic', objek-georiënteerde modellering, 'unified modelling language (UML)' en die oorsake van pypbreuke behandel. Hierdie literatuurstudie skep die basis waaruit die RBS vir pypbreukrisikobepaling en impakberaming ontwikkel sal word. In die tweede deel (Hoofstuk 5) word die algemene gebruikersbehoeftes en die ontwerp van die RBS uiteengesit. Die algemene RBS struktuur en die gebruikerskoppelvlak word in hierdie deel van die proefskrif beskryf en ontwerp. In die derde deel (Hoofstuk 6) word die gedetailleerde gebruikersbehoeftes en die ontwerp van die substelsels van die RBS uiteengesit. Gespesialiseerde funksionaliteit vir pypbreuk-risikobepaling en impakberaming is tot die algemene ontwerp van die RBS bygevoeg. Substelsels is ontwerp vir die ontleding van pypbreuk-risiko as gevolg van ouderdom, lugblaas-vorming en boomwortelaanval. Substelsels vir impakberaming is ook ontwerp om waterverlies en potensiële skade aan eiendomme vas te stel. Ten slotte word 'n gekombineerde ontledingsubstelsel vir gekombineerde pypbreuk-risikobepaling en impakberaming opgestel. In die vierde deel (Hoofstuk 7) word die RBS toegepas op die waterverspreidingstelsel van die Paarlse munisipaliteit om pype uit te ken wat beide 'n hoë breuk-risiko en 'n hoë breuk-impak bevat. Die pypbreuk-analise model van die RBS is ook getoets en gekalibreer deur die resultate van die model te vergelyk met data van werklike pypbreuke in die studiegebied. Die laaste hoofstuk (Hoofstuk 8) bevat die samevatting en die aanbevelings rakende die funksionaliteit van die voorgestelde RBS.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South African municipalities are under pressure to improve the current state of the water andwastewater service delivery industry. Knowing that there exists a need for improvement within the municipal water and wastewater industry, the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) launched a municipal strategic self-assessment (MuSSA) initiative to evaluate the business health of the industry. MuSSA asks high level technical management staff five key questions about sixteen key business attribute areas. This study seeks to determine if theMuSSA data can be used to aid municipal decision making, by way of drawing correlations between key performance indicators contained in the MuSSA questions. The correlations are to bring forth areas thatmust be focussed on to improve selected attribute areas requiring attention within municipalities. Three areas have been chosen from theMuSSA data to be investigated in this research project namely; (i)staff skill levels and capacity, (ii)non-revenue water and (iii)the execution of planned water services activities. In the MuSSA questionnaire there are questions addressing each of (i), (ii) and (iii) to determine the municipality’s performance in each of the three areas. Non-parametric statistics are used to determine with which of the MuSSA questions’ answers the relevant questions’ answers significantly correlate for (i), (ii) and (iii). Engineering judgement and expert opinion are used to determine if the questions correlating with the relevant questions for (i), (ii) and (iii) either affect, are affected by or have no relation with the question. These results are then organized using a flow diagram and are discussed in detail by way of a bivariate histogramof each correlation. The investigation revealed that municipalities not having sufficient technical management capacity are not performing well on at least one of the five questions asked on eleven of the sixteen MuSSA business attributes. The skill level of water and wastewater treatment works staff were found to be strongly affected by technical management capacity and skill, water services planning and financial sustainability of the organization. Municipalities training technical management and operational staff showed a high percentage of skilled operational staff employed at treatment works. Water and wastewater treatment works staff capacity are very dependent of the level of skill and capacity of technical management employed by the municipality. Municipalities having appropriate budgets and funding to appoint and train staff showed a tendency to be better at operational staff capacity building than those lacking funding. The reduction of non-revenue water (NRW) showed strong correlations with technical management and network operational repair staff skills and development. Municipalities employing staff with correct skills and experience combined, with commitment from management to reduce NRW by way of monitoring and practicing of pressuremanagement programs, significantly reduced NRW percentages. Equally crucial to the reduction of NRW, as revealed from the investigation, is the practicing of infrastructure asset management within the municipality. It was concluded that municipalities should strive to reach a NRW percentage of 30% or less to become financially stable, due to correlation between funding of routine operations and building up of cash reserve versus NRW percentages. Municipalities wanting to improve the execution rate of planned water services activities are recommended to address, among other factors, technical management skill levels and capacity. Municipalities lacking technical management skill and capacity reported a low percentages of planned activities being executed. Also of high significance, is the technical operational staff skill levels and capacity, due to their involvement in the execution of planned activates. The involvement of council members in water and wastewater planning and the reporting of data and issues to council greatly enhancesmunicipalities’ abilities to execute planned activities. This can mainly be contributed to increased funding in situations where council members support planned projects. The lack of funding was found to be a major inhibitor of the execution of planned activities. Even though a great deal of municipalities indicated that they are effectively spending allocated budgets, this positive indication is not seen in the percentage municipalities executing planned activities and leads to the conclusion that there is a lack of funding. Municipalities taking actions in other areas of their business such as infrastructure assetmanagement and planning were more effective at executing planned activities. In all, it was concluded that technicalmanagement and operational staff skill levels and capacity need to be present for amunicipality to function properly. Municipalities also are in need of funding to execute planned activities and need to become financially self sustainable. One way of working towards the goal of financial self sustainability is the reduction of NRW percentages. The data from this investigation shows great similarity with the literature consulted on the current state and functioning of South African municipalities. The statistical analysis of the MuSSA data accurately revealed correlations among key performance indicators in municipalities. The conclusion can be drawn that investigation of correlations amongMuSSA questions can be used to help aid municipal decision making. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Suid-Afrikaanse munisipaliteite is onder druk om die huidige toestand van die water en afvalwater dienslewering te verbeter. Met die wete dat daar ’n behoefte vir verbetering in die munisipale water en afvalwater bedryf is het dieDepartement vanWaterwese ’n munisipale strategiese self-assessering (MuSSA) projekte geïnisieer omdie welstand van die bedryf te evalueer. MuSSA vra hoë vlak tegniese bestuurs personeel vyf kern vrae oor sestien sleutel besigheids aspekte. Hierdie studie poogomvas te stel of dieMuSSA data gebruik kan word om munisipale besluitneming te help verbeter, deur middel van die evaluering van korrelasies tussen die sleutel prestasie aanwysers soos vervat in MuSSA vrae. Die korrelasies bring na vore gebiede waar op gefokus moet word om geselekteerde kenmerk areas binne munisipaliteite, wat aandag vereis, te verbeter. Drie areas uit die MuSSA-data is ondersoek in hierdie navorsings projek naamlik; (i) personeel vaardigheidsvlakke en kapasiteit, (ii) nie-inkomste water en (iii) die uitvoering van die beplande waterdienste aktiwiteite. In die MuSSA vraelys is daar vrae wat elk van (i), (ii) en (iii) aanspreek om die munisipaliteit se prestasie op die drie gebiede te monitor. Nie-parametriese statistiek word gebruik om die oorblywendeMuSSA vrae wat se antwoorde met die relevante vrae se antwoorde korreleer vir (i), (ii) en (iii) vas te stel. Kundigheid en oordeel van ingenieurs word gebruik om te bepaal of die vrae wat korreleer met die relevante vrae vir (i), (ii) en (iii) die relevante vraag beïnvloed, beïnvloed word deur die relevante vraag of geen verhouding het met die relevante vraag nie. Hierdie resultate word dan georganiseer met behulp van ’n vloeidiagram en word in detail bespreek deur middel van ’n tweeveranderlike histogram van elke korrelasie. Die ondersoek het aan die lig gebring dat munisipaliteite wat nie genoegsame tegniese bestuurs kapasiteit het nie swak presteer op ten minste een van die vyf vrae van elf van die sestienMuSSA besigheid eienskappe. Die personeel vaardigheidsvlakke van water en afvalwater behandelings werke word sterk beïnvloed deur die tegniese bestuurskapasiteit en -vaardigheid, waterdienste beplanning en die finansiële volhoubaarheid van die organisasie. Munisipaliteite wat opleiding van tegniese bestuur en operasionele personeel uitvoer het ’n hoë persentasie van opgeleide operasionele personeel werksaam by suiweringswerke. Water en afvalwater behandelingswerke se personeelkapasiteit is baie afhanklik van die vlak van vaardigheid en kapasiteit van tegniese bestuur in diens van die munisipaliteit. Munisipaliteite met toepaslike begrotings en befondsing om personeel aan te stel en op te lei het ’n neiging om beter te presteer met kapasiteitsbou van operasionele personeel as die wat aan ’n gebrek ly van befondsing. Die vermindering van nie-inkomste water (NRW) het sterk korrelasies met tegniese bestuur en netwerkherstel personeelvaardighede en ontwikkeling. Munisipaliteite wat personeel met die korrekte vaardighede en ervaring in diens het, gekombineer met bestuur wat dit nastreef om NRW te verminder by wyse van monitering en uitvoering van druk beheer in water netwerke het aansienlik kleiner NRWpersentasies. Ewe noodsaaklik vir die vermindering van NRW, soos geopenbaar deur die ondersoek is die beoefening van interne infrastruktuur batebestuur deur diemunisipaliteit. Daar is tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat munisipaliteite daarna moet streef om ’n NRW persentasie van 30% of minder te bereik om finansieel stabiel te word, as gevolg van die korrelasie tussen befondsing van roetine bedrywighede en die opbou van kontant reserwe teenoor NRWpersentasies. Munisipaliteitewat die uitvoeringskoers van beplande waterdienste aktiwiteitewil verbeter, word aanbeveel om onder andere, tegniese bestuurs vaardigheids vlakke en kapasiteit aan te spreek. Munisipaliteite wat nie tegniese bestuursvaardigheid en -kapasiteit het nie, berig dat ’n lae persentasie van beplande aktiwiteite uitgevoer word. Die tegniese operasionele personeel vaardigheidsvlakke en kapasiteit, as gevolg van hul betrokkenheid in die uitvoering van beplande aktiwiteite is ook van groot belang. Die betrokkenheid van lede van die raad by water en afvalwater beplanning en die rapportering van data en kwessies aan die raad verhoog baiemunisipaliteite se vermoëns om beplande aktiwiteite uit te voer. Dit kan hoofsaaklik toegeskryf word aan verhoogde befondsing in situasies waar raadslede beplande projekte ondersteun. Dit is gevind dat die gebrek aan befondsing ’n groot inhibeerder van die uitvoering van beplande aktiwiteite is. Alhoewel ’n meerderheid van die munisipaliteite aangedui het dat hulle begrotings effektief spandeer, word dit egter nie weerspieël in die persentasie munisipaliteite wat beplande aktiwiteite uivoer nie en lei dit tot die gevolgtrekking dat daar n gebrek aan befondsing is. Munisipaliteite wat klem lê op ander gebiede van hul besigheid soos, infrastruktuur batebestuur en beplanning was meer effektief met die uitvoering van die beplande aktiwiteite. Daar is tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat tegniese bestuur en operasionele personeel vaardigheidsvlakke en kapasiteit noodsaaklik is vir ’n munisipaliteit om behoorlik te funksioneer. Daar is ook ’n behoefte aan befondsing by munisipaliteite om beplande aktiwiteite uit te voer en munisipaliteite moet finansieel onafhanklik en lewensvatbaar word. Een manier om te werk te gaan om finansiële self volhoubaarheid te bereik, is die vermindering van NRW persentasies. Die data van hierdie ondersoek toon groot ooreenkomste met die literatuur wat geraadpleeg is oor die huidige stand en funksionering van Suid-Afrikaanse munisipaliteite. Die statistiese analise van die MuSSA data het akkurate korrelasies geopenbaar tussen die sleutel prestasie-aanwysers inmunisipaliteite. Die gevolgtrekking kan gemaak word dat die ondersoek in terme van die korrelasie tussen MuSSA vrae gebruik kan word om munisipale besluitneming te help verbeter.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / China Area Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Thesis (MBA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2007 / The residents of Lebowakgomo in Lepelle-Nkumpi Municipality experience numerous inequalities in relation to water services provision. Some of the residents protest towards the inequalities through refusal to pay for the water services. The confrontational non paying residents field questions which the municipality can hardly answer. The problem of refusal to pay is of the magnitude that recently the municipality had to go house-to-house pleading with the inhabitants to pay if the municipality was to continue to provide water services. The specific objectives of this study were three-fold: (1) to determine water service quality using residents’ perceptions on water services in Lebowakgomo, (2) to determine residents’ expectations and perceptions on water services in Lebowakgomo, and (3) to determine the residents’ perceptions on water service quality and customer satisfaction in Lebowakgomo using age, gender, qualification and suburb. A questionnaire comprising five dimensions, namely, tangibles, reliability, assurance, empathy and responsiveness, was compiled to collect data from three suburbs of Lebowakgomo in Lepelle-Nkumpi Municipality. The original sample size was 120, with 9 becoming spoiled due to missing data. The independent variables comprised age, qualification, suburb and gender. Most of the data were analysed for kurtosis and skewness and with the exception of one variable, the rest of the data did not conform to parametric analysis criteria. The major findings of this study indicated overall negative perceptions of residents’ on four dimensions of empathy, reliability, responsiveness and assurance on water service quality which implied that the residents were dissatisfied with the service and called on management to use SERVQUAL as a valid model of assessment to identify areas requiring immediate attention for service improvement. On the other contra positive it was revealed that the municipality was doing well on the tangibles dimension. ix The study recommended use of SERVQUAL in measuring quality of other services within the constitutional competencies of the municipality and further research to investigate age contribution to service quality.

The provision of a basic water supply and sanitation service to the 12 million South Africans without an adequate water supply and the 21 million without basic sanitation is a mammoth task that is currently being undertaken by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. Billions of rands have been spent on, and committed to, water and sanitation projects that involve national, provincial and local spheres of government, as well as parastatals, non-government organisations and private developers. It is acknowledged that important successes have been achieved in the water and sanitation sector. However, despite the provisions provided in national and local legislation, internationally lauded policy directives, the numerous studies undertaken and recommendations made by institutions such as the Water Research Commission, problems have continued to emerge in the sustainable delivery of water and sanitation projects, particularly in the peri-urban and rural areas. It is clear that the installation of physical structures such as pipes, taps and ventilated improved pit latrines in these areas have created a sense of 'delivery' however, little thought seems to have gone into how these projects are to be sustained. International experience has shown that the concept of 'community ownership' is very important in providing sustainable water and sanitation services. The most important principles in achieving sustainability are community participation and community decision-making throughout both the development of the project as well as the further operation and maintenance of the system. International experience has also shown that financial contributions towards the scheme from the community (in cash, labour or materials), also assists in obtaining community ownership. Over the past decade emphasis in South Africa has shifted towards community participation and the empowerment of previously disadvantaged communities where communities play an active role in determining the level of service provided and the manner in which these services are delivered. However, current government policy advocates that water must be treated as an economic resource to achieve sustainability and this does not always lie comfortably with the policy of delivering free basic water. As a result of these two often-juxtaposed concepts, the delivery of sustainable water and sanitation services, a function performed by local government, is thus made more difficult. This study assesses the importance of delivering a potable water supply and adequate sanitation service to enhance the quality of lives of people. It also considers the key issues that contribute towards sustainable water and sanitation service delivery, with particular reference to the concept of 'community ownership'. The complex nature of the policy, legislative and institutional framework for water supply and sanitation is considered along with an analysis of the Msunduzi Municipality's water supply and sanitation policy and objectives. The study then focuses on the delivery of water and sanitation services to one such project, Edendale Unit RR (commonly known as Newtown), as an in-situ upgrade case study. A Provincial Housing Board funded project has, over the last five years, provided housing units, roads, stormwater drains, and water and sanitation infrastructure to this community. This initial research is undertaken with the intention of providing an evaluation of the installation of the water supply and sanitation service to the in-situ upgrade of Newtown. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.

South African legislation, as summarised in The Strategic Framework for Water Services (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, 2003), makes local authorities responsible for all water services to individual consumers. As Water Services Authorities (WSAs), municipalities must appoint Water Services Providers (WSPs) to implement water services. The legislation allows a range of organisations to act as WSPs. The Strategic Framework also lays down norms and standards with regards to continuity of water supplies and water quality. The country has adopted a policy of "Free Basic Water", which requires WSAs to provide a basic level of services free of charge. Six kilolitres per household per month is the norm adopted by most municipalities. In deciding on the institutional arrangements for the provISIon of water serVIces, municipalities need to decide what functions, if any, to outsource. Most international literature that reviews experiences of the International Water Decade advocates community management of rural water supplies, pointing to failures of government run, centralised management of rural schemes. A strong reason given for choosing community management is the sense of "ownership" this gives to local communities. Traditional theories on management by government organisations use a "steering" model, in which the government sets the course for policy and administrators implement the policies decided upon. Since the 1980s, a new paradigm for analysing government has emerged, emphasising the limits to governments' power to act as it wishes. The new model is one of networks of various interdependent organisations, often with the government at the centre. Such a model can be used to depict organisational relationships in rural areas of South Africa. In the early 1990s, a number ofNGOs implemented rural water schemes using the community management approach. However, after the passing of legislation making municipalities WSAs, very few municipalities have seriously considered community management, or any formal role for local community based organisations. Efforts to assess the effectiveness of municipalities' water service delivery IS severely hampered by a lack of usable data. Since starting to take responsibility for water schemes from DWAF and other bodies in 2000, municipalities have struggled to manage service delivery effectively, largely due to a shortage of management and technical skills. Alfred Nzo District Municipality (ANDM) is one of the poorest municipalities in the country, with high levels of poverty. Approximately 50% of the rural population have adequate water services, that is 25 litres per person available within 200 metres of the household (Smith, 2006). The operation of services is paid mainly from the municipality's equitable share from national government. This report attempts to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of community management of rural water supplies. This is done by examining ANDM's community management model as a case study. The roles and responsibilities of various actors in the programme were analysed by interviewing the Support Services Agents (SSAs) engaged to co-ordinate the programme. The effectiveness of the water services were analysed using the SSAs' monthly reports, and this was compared with other available data. The experiences of other rural municipalities were also examined, focusing on their experiences with community participation. The model used by ANDM consisted of a water committee or board for each water scheme, which supervised the work of local operators and administrators. Operators carried out minor repairs, while the SSAs did monthly servicing of pumps and motors, and implemented major repairs, largely by supervising local operators and casual labourers. Committees submitted monthly reports to the SSAs, which were used as a basis for reports from the SSAs to the municipality. SSAs also reported on water quality. The figures for continuity of supply (measuring the operability of the infrastructure) varied considerably between the three SSAs. A possible reason for low figures from one SSA was that the figures also reflected water shortages in some schemes. Figures for water quality varied more than those for continuity, leading to a concern about the extent to which sampling and testing procedures were standardised. The figures were compared with figures from attitude surveys on water services recording consumers' perceptions about continuity of supply. The difference in data being measured, and concerns about the meaning of the figures from the SSAs' reports make direct comparisons impossible. However, the data indicates that for schemes served by two of the SSAs at least, a reasonably effective service was rendered. The cost to the municipality of providing water services was R4,19 per person per month, a relatively low figure compared with other municipalities. The four KwaZulu-Natal District Municipalities interviewed all reported negative experiences with community management of rural schemes that they inherited, and all four have opted for a centralised system, one using a partnership with a water board. None of the four municipalities had systematic data on continuity of service. Despite the difficulties in comparing the performance of ANDM to that of other municipalities, it is clear that the system employed by the municipality to use community management with the support of external consultants and NGOs was workable, sustainable and efficient. The participation of local community organisations assisted in some of the common problems that beset rural water schemes such as vandalism and water wastage. The report recommends that: • Municipalities with remote rural water schemes seriously consider community management as an effective and efficient delivery mechanism. • Where community management is employed, it is backed up with effective managerial and technical support. • The Alfred Nzo District Municipality reinstate the contracts with external Support Services Agents, which were the basis of effective management of and reporting on its rural water supply programme, unless equivalent internal capacity has been acquired to do the work done by the Support Services Agents. • Water Services Providers be required by water services authorities to submit regular data on service availability, continuity of supply and water quality, and Water Services Authorities in turn be required to submit similar data to DWAF. • DWAF issues guidelines on how proper separation of regulation and implementation roles be effected between WSAs and WSPs respectively when the WSP function is carried out internally. / Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

By the dawn of the twenty-first century the City of Atlanta was facing a crisis of water quantity and water quality. It was involved in two-decades worth of litigation with the states of Alabama and Florida over access to surface waters that originate within Georgia, a legal dispute that threatened to severely reduce the city’ ability to provide water to its growing metropolitan population. In addition, city officials were in the beginning stages of a four-billion dollar, court-ordered program of improvements to its wastewater infrastructure that was intended to reduce the amount of pollution that spewed into its local rivers and streams. This dissertation examines the origins of these water-related problems by exploring the challenges that Atlanta’s public officials, engineers, and activists faced in planning and implementing an effective environmental policy, with particular emphasis placed on the era of post-World War II metropolitan development. Specifically, it focuses on the city’s historical efforts to achieve the comprehensive management of the area’s water resources, the technological systems adopted and solutions proposed, and the political and social milieu that facilitated or hampered these endeavors. Comprehensive water resources management was a neglected and delayed policy approach that was undertaken in the City of Atlanta only after overt threats of federal intervention. This study argues that although the area’s mid-century regional planners advocated for intergovernmental cooperation in order to manage Atlanta’s limited water supplies, their recommendations were undermined by fragmented local governance, timid political leadership, and public indifference. It further suggests that Atlanta’s water supply managers, through increases in the scale and scope of their operations and a reluctance to increase customer rates, facilitated and encouraged greater water consumption, which, in turn, placed intense burdens on both the natural hydraulic cycle and the city’s wastewater facilities. Lastly, it argues the citizen activists as well as state and federal regulators have utilized the federal court system as a blunt planning instrument when Atlanta’s leaders displayed their seeming incapacity to handle the environmental strains of uncoordinated metropolitan development.

This is an in-depth case study of urban water services to poor households and their interactions with local state power in the community of Eastwood, Pietermaritzburg, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, for the period 2005-2007. It draws especially on the experiences of poor women, exploring the conceptions and implications of the movement of municipal services into the realm of welfare-based urban service concessions. It interrogates what value municipal services, framed in the language and form of welfare but within a commodification milieu and in the context of shifting citizen-state relations offer the state apparatus and how such free basic service offerings are experienced by poor households at the level of domestic, social and economic functioning. The study adopts a fluid mixed-methodological approach to optimise exploration and interpretation. It argues that the interface of state service delivery and citizens is fraught with contradictions: core to this is the nature of state ' help.' Free basic water encompassed in the social wage did not improve the lives of poor households; instead it eroded original water access. Free basic water stole women's time spent on domestic activities; compromised appropriate water requirements, exacerbated service affordability problems and negatively affected household functioning. Poor households experienced the government's policy of free basic services as containment and punishment for being poor. The Indigent Policy activated the state's surveillance, disciplinary and control apparatus. In the absence of effective national regulation over municipalities and with financial shortfalls, street-level bureaucrats manipulated social policies to further municipal cost recovery goals and subjugate poor households. Social control and cheap governance were in symmetry. Citizens, desperate for relief, approached the state. Poor households were pushed into downgraded service packages or mercilessly pursued by municipally outsourced private debt collectors and disconnection companies. Municipalities competing for investments brought about by favourable credit ratings abandoned the humanity of their citizens. Such re-prioritisation of values had profound implications for governance and public trust. Citizens were jettisoned to the outskirts of municipal governance, resulting in a distinct confusion and anger towards the local state - and with it, major uncertainties regarding future stability, redistribution and equity.

The Republic of South Africa embarked on devolution of specific powers to municipal authorities due to the fact that municipalities are a sphere of government which is at the door step of the citizens. Among the powers that were devolved was the authority to regulate on the rendering of water and services to communities. From now henceforth in this study, water and sanitation services will be referred to as water services. The rural villages that had no access to water services during the previous dispensation were rapidly rendered with these services when the transformed Department of Water Affairs and Forestry took a decision to provide the services on its own in order to give space for the transformation of the local sphere of government such that these municipal X authorities are able to manage the load of the allocation of such functions mainly and to close the vacuum so that there is no gap as to who should be responsible for water provision in rural villages whilst the restructuring of municipalities to include the rural villages as part of the transformation process takes place. A decline in the pace rendering water services to the previously disadvantaged rural communities was noticed after the devolution of water services to municipal authorities and by implication once hands were changed. This left those rural communities that had no access to water services still without the desired water services and those that had water services provided left midway with dry water schemes and dysfunctional infrastructure. This study therefore seeks to uproot the cause for the deceleration of water services once it was devolved to municipal authorities. This decline was noticed by the researcher hence the study seeks to attempt providing alternatives and lasting solutions primarily because water services are essential services and water is life. The main objective of the study is to investigate factors that cause the deceleration of water supply and the slow movement in the acceleration of sanitation services in order to provide alternatives that may yield results. Given the above broad objective this study further aims at examining the following factors: The correlation in funding made available by the central government and the financial resources available to municipalities to perform the function in order to render this service properly. Technical support available to municipalities. Relevant legislation, its policies and its impact on the implementation of the service XI. The correlation between accountability, democratization and community participation on standards and quality of the service to actual outputs. Improvement of service delivery and its relationship with transparency and efficiency. Relatedness of poverty to non provision of water services. The relatedness of poverty, lack of basic services to influx in the cities. Relatedness of the quality of the water services to the outbreak of diseases

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / The aim of the study was to examine the challenges of water supply management in Umdoni Local Municipality. Two methods were employed to collect data in the study. The first method involved one-on-one interviews with the participants. An interview guide was used to obtain data pertaining water supply services from a water services manager, a municipal manager and ten (10) ward councillors. The second method entailed analysis of documents within the municipality. In this study findings were based on issues such as prioritization of effective water supply for Umdoni Local Municipality, community consultation and participation, addressing capacity constrains in the Municipality such as human resources, water service infrastructure and skills development. The underlying causes of the water supply problems are based on the basic infrastructure, provision of water supply being very poor and dismal across the area. Water serves as a basic need to which everybody has the right to access, however, water supply is unfortunately disrupted by many factors. The findings in this study shows that poor water supply emanates from many factors such as management skills, technical challenges and illegal connections. This study recommends that Umdoni Local Municipality has additions of water plants, building of new reservoirs and upgrades of water pipes, especially in Amahlongwa area as it needs urgent attention.