Transcript Slide 1

A “IWRM PROJECT FOR
WATER”
– A SAMOAN PERSPECTIVE
by Moefauuo Taputoa Titimaea
Introduction
– Water plays an important role in achieving Millennium Development Goals and
combating world poverty. It is important to involve the following in PPP water
management:
• The Government
• Non government organizations
• Private sector and local communities
– With regards to Stakeholder Participation it is important to include major players
such as Samoan culture and Matai System
– It is also important to implement sustainable IWRM policies and put them into
practice and identify immediate tasks that would have a major impact on poverty
in Samoa such as the following:
• Integrate local experience, culture and good governance
• Promoting water saving methods
• New technology adaptation to local conditions
• Increase customer data collection
– We should implement sustainable IWRM policies while avoiding any harm to the
Samoan economy and to ensure long term water availability and greater
efficiency of water usage
• Issues such as resentment to Samoa Water Authority strategy to have users
pay water per cubic meter rather than flat rate charge for poor water quality
still remain
• In the last few years the SWA has revamped its Act 2003 and operational
policies
• However legal and policy changes will not affect water user’s attitudes and
behavior.
IWRM and the Matai System
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The Matai system is part of Samoan Culture
It is based on village life and ways of controlling the following
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Groups of women’s committee
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Village council who consist of family heads
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Young men and women
Water resource and supply can sometimes rely on the village council decision
to excavate and use land.
There is now strong willingness of village councils in general to cooperate and
be active in the involvement of all stakeholders and recognition of their land
rights and water
Their local skills and knowledge must be considered as they have survived the
worst weather conditions and been protectorate of the village environment
over years
The government has always depended on village protectorate for support and
have asked that costs of projects whether through overseas aid or local
government funds include compensation for this.
There will be a continual rise in cost expectations of the land owners of the
land if they are not properly informed right from the start of the project.
Project teams should not assume some water project parameters such as
cost, benefits and compensation are not the realms of understanding of the
village people.
Village people participation in project planning is vital for the success of water
projects
IWRM Village Awareness
Programs
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SWA have been engaged in community awareness programs with villages on
both Savaii and Upolu islands promoting measures of water efficiency through
savings methodologies
Because of water scarcity expected in the future water productivity and
reliability will be closely monitored relative to village population growth.
The SWA Public Relations Unit (PRU) have community awareness programs on
• Water Leakage
• Metering
• Water Resource management
• Introduction of good practice
– Such as increasing stakeholder participation
– Managing water resources in the villages
• Other issues include
– Water prices in Rural Areas
– Motivating water saving activities
Recently the village councils have taken over the administration of Primary
Schools, which inherently allow them to take care of water supplies in schools.
As a result the following has happened
• Still problems of high debts due to leakages and low willingness to pay
• A lot of school committees are now aware of continuing operation and
maintenance to the water networks to reduce water rates.
IWRM Water Investments – economy,
price and valuation (a)
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To reverse the declining trend in finance for suitable water investment, private
investors should include cost savings by improvements in water efficiency,
recycling and waste.
This should alleviate social pressures on communities allocated as key areas of
water conservation such as Falealupo on Savaii Island.
Water investments should be directed to
• Develop economic incentives such as water pricing mechanisms achieving
various tariff options
• Promotion of water saving approaches during dry season
• Economize water usage as a scarce commodity to make people aware of
limitations in water so it could be shared wise
It is important to manage water in ways to directly reflect its value and price.
• The flat water rate have gone past years when water quality was not so
important.
• These days communities in Samoa require sustainable and good quality
water.
• This means the process put the issue if water scarcity either
– Scarcity of water resources or
– Scarcity of the process of getting water from the water resources to
the communities
• Tariff schedules for SWA is based on domestic and commercial services
• The metered and unmetered option is based on whether the water is
treated or untreated
• The objective of SWA is to make sure metered customers receive clean
and reliable 24hr supply of water
IWRM Water Investments – economy,
price and valuation (b)
– Continuous water supply is vital for good sanitation and hygienic communities
however there are still rural communities that do not have continuous supply but
they should have a storage option for this.
• The Water Sector Support Program (WASSP) is looking to provide
continuous supply through the use of water storage tanks when the
borehole pumps are turned off
– It is hopeful that the existing tariff schedules will be reviewed taking into account
the following:
• Increased electricity bills affecting the boreholes operational times
• General increase in SWA overheads due to inflation and increase in wages
• Trying to recover non asset expenses such as depreciation
– There is a need to address the following in any future water valuation and
pricing;
• Allocation of the water rights to the extended families or village councils but
involvement from the pre-feasibility project studies;
• Calculation of water prices to reflect the usage and pro-poor mechanism to
help the needy;
• The need to include infrastructure, maintenance and administrative costs.
– SWA have to focus on ways to assess the value of water and incorporate these
values into water management practices.
• One of the problems in Samoa is access to water during dry season where
there is difficulty in collecting water rates
– Affected customers refuse to pay due to inconsistent supply of water.
– Hence some of these customers have valid reasons to reduce their
water rates including their water valuation.
IWRM Water Investments –
economy, price and valuation (c)
– Gerardo van Halsema, FAO, presented the results of the E-forum that took place
in December 2004.
• Van Halsema stated “ the object of the E forum is to provide informed
recommendations on the advancement of sustainable water
management…and how to incorporate such values to include safe yield
assessments of water productivity and payment of environment services.”
• He also suggested that “ stakeholder-oriented and adaptive approaches
should be carried out with market instruments should only be used under
certain conditions.”
• However, water valuation should highlights the following;
– Developing local utilities to safeguard the local interests at district and
village level;
– Providing technical support for efficient use of drinking water from
surface water sources;
– Facilitating dialogue among all water stakeholders;
IWRM Water Investments –
economy, price and valuation (d)
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It is very important to value water as a commodity to promote credit
for investments by indigenous entrepreneurs in water product
markets.
• Water market in Samoa is concentrated in the supply of the
spring-water drinking water with a couple of companies on water
products.
Hence water valuation is a one of the vital aspects of water management
issues for which SWA and the spring-water suppliers need to discuss on
the future of this interesting market
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IWRM Effect of Environmental
Services Cost (a)
Over the past years, the environmental cost of projects in Samoa was insignificant when
compared to the overall cost of projects.
• For example, the environmental cost of the Samasoni Hydro Project would be so
inhibitive that if converted to current prices would not have been given the go ahead as it
did 35 years ago.
• The compensation for the loss of water rights and the infrastructures such as penstocks
affecting downstream local farmers and community would be four times higher in today’s
costs.
• There is still current issues regarding compensation of land in exchange for water usage
which is still to be soughted out between Government and villages.
• Hence, water projects such as SWA Rural Water Supply Project have Preliminary
Environment Assessment Report (PEAR) or a basic Environment Impact Assessment (EIA)
which is required by the PUMA legislation.
– The construction of new submains require less impact as the soil is excavated,
backfilled with sand, bedding and fill material, pipes laid and finally soil reinstated.
– The only compensation is for plants and inroad areas affected by the backhoe
digging the soil. Hence it was decided to do a PEAR instead of a comprehensive EIA.
• The role of the EIAs is to understand the environmental effects of water usage and how
to finance these assessments. The PEAR, EIA and Environment Management Plan (EMP)
each contribute to
IWRM Effect of Environmental
Services Cost (b)
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Also to be considered is the environment costs such as:
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Cost of damage when pipeline leak due to normal wear and tear
or accident
Water damage to nearby houses due flooding;
Possibility to cause personal injury due to unfilled trenches;
Affect other utility services such telecom and electricity.
Other environment costs to enable adequate water access for
the poor such as
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Improve sanitation and hygiene for villages in rural areas;
Equitable use of water;
More community awareness program focusing on water efficiency
and saving;
Building knowledge and know how on water as a commodity to
be conserved and never treat it as a right to use.
Samoa Changing Weather Patterns and
Integrated Water Resurce
Management IWRM (a)
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It has been envisage by water experts recently that water scarcity will become
more intense in the future due to global warming, unpredictability of weather
patterns and seasonal becoming un-seasonal.
Year 2005 for Samoa is almost a wet season all year round and 2003-2004 almost
a dry season all round.
The usual dry season of April-August and wet season September-March is now
almost doing an overlap with weather unpredictability.
In order to mitigate these weather problems, water management processes and
networking will need to move from sectoral approach to an integrated one.
Therefore the water sector must be integrated with other sectors such as SVC,
Agriculture Dept , MNRE, etc.
The Project Design Assistance Report mentions sectoral approach
Sectoral approach could slow progress
Control the financing of each sector
It will be Difficult to target a single water project focus with many sectors
Integrated approach duly require investment in
• Infrastructure
• Governance
• Technology
• Capacity building
Samoa Simple Road Map For IWRM –
SWA Perspective
• Infrastructure
– EU and Government of Samoa through SWA have invested in upgrading pipeline
in populated areas of both Upolu and Savaii islands
– Continuous installation of meters to reduce wastage
– Communities affected now enjoy 24hr continuous clean treated water supply
• Governance
– SWA in 2003 reviewed its act
– There has been a move to strengthen the private sector
• Technology
– Chlorinated and metered water are the major technology changes recently
– In Tanzania, Africa there was a water filter built by Dorsch requiring little or no
power at all with auto scouring methods
– SWA have been working with a new software PIPES++ program for designing
and networks which will likely be the software used in the future
• Capacity Building
– Recent Government reforms with Public Works have been quite successful
• Private sector slowly getting use to the way government outsource work
• PWD staff reduced from 400 to 50 remaining to supervise work
• There are some issues remaining to be resolved such as SWEL
• The quality of the works needs to be closely monitored (Engineering Standards)
– Any SWA reform needs to be done whilst maintaining existing staff levels
IWRM As An Economic Good
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The standard macroeconomic model involves only two goods – consumption
goods and capital equipment
There is a feeling among water experts that water scarcity will dominate the
consumption goods part of the equation
Water metering will have an immediate impact in reducing water consumption
and overall aggregate water demand
SWA have to control the amount of unaccounted for water and bigger
customer base for it’s billing purposes
Focus is for every SWA customer in Samoa to have access to clean water
24hrs daily
Other independent suppliers should pursue the same goal
Each Samoan family have a disposable income for which it is to pay for
prioritize consumption of goods such as
• Food
• Electricity
• Water
• Telecom
At the moment less priority is given to the payment of water
Water is a commodity for which we cannot go without and it only takes 3 days
without water for a person to die
Hence prioritization of goods should make water the most important good to
save and pay for.
Other Independent Water
Suppliers (IWS)
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The EU has allowed independent suppliers in the rural areas to also
benefit from the projects funds through the SWA canvassing
assistance in the Phase IV if the RWSCP project. These will include
Laulii, Lotofaga Safata, etc.
The independent schemes have more than 5% of Samoa water
customers
Such suppliers are not up to international standards in terms of
material and technical know how with regards to operation and
maintenance of water schemes
There is a vast need for capacity building and community awareness
required for saving water
Meetings and continuous advise from SWA staff should be
encouraged
There is also data about these independent schemes required to get
the overall information about the water in Samoa
Most of these independent schemes had input from SWA or
government in the design of their head works and networks to
distribute water in their villages
Proper use of materials are to be taught to technical village staff by
SWA engineers in the future
The Way Forward For SWA
of an IWRM Project in
Service Delivery
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The way forward for this country is not to take water for
granted as a human right or God – given but to save water
through metering and efficient water usage.
One has to treat water so availability of clean water is 24
hours and hygienic requirements for sanitation will always be
continuous
Treating water as an economic commodity will reduce water
usage and save water for future generations.
A recent meeting with a renowned Samoan diplomat said that
there will be a time when the world will not go to war due to
land, political issues or fuel but for “water”. Hope these times
will not come soon if we implement some of the water
management strategies mentioned in this
Faafetai