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This week will be marked by those who keep records as the low point in the Harare Metropolitan water supply and the turning point as from now on things can only get better, slowly at first but increasingly more rapidly as the whole mess is sorted out and put on a viable financial and engineering footing.
It is crucial that the finances are sorted out, so that everyone receiving water from the treatment plants in the province pays for what they actually receive rather than some arbitrary minimum that might never arrive or some estimate that makes zero sense. On the other side, those who simply do not pay bills or who have plumbed in a by-pass around their meter need to join the ranks of those who pay.
The engineering mess is partly the result of the financial mess, with not enough money spent on maintaining the infrastructure of treatment and distribution of water, lack of funds at times to buy treatment chemicals, and even lack of patches and spare parts to fix faults and leaks. The general disorganisation and corruption at upper levels of the Harare City Council have added to the general malaise, with the often competent technical staff given zero backing and zero resources.
This has now changed. A new entity has taken over the treatment, distribution and billing of the water, presumably across the whole metropolitan province since this is fed by Harare City Council. Or at least it has taken over de facto even if Harare City Council thinks it still owns and controls everything.
Why Mayor Jacob Mafume thought that publicly maintaining council ownership was reassuring is difficult to understand, considering the record of his council over the past quarter century as one of the best water systems in Africa, doubled in size in the 1980s after independence, was eroded and almost destroyed and now delivers far less water than the old colonial and far smaller city managed before independence.
The new system is a joint venture by Government, Harare City and Chinese companies. If it has not already been made a formal entity this should be done, to make it clear who carries the effective control and responsibility.
The main water works, the Morton Jaffray works near Lake Chivero dam wall, were this week handed over, so that the process of making sure what is still working can continue working while the larger part of the works, now non-operational, is brought back into commission.
Meanwhile, the finances can be sorted. A shipment of 650 000 prepaid meters is on the high seas and due for delivery within weeks.
This is more than enough to give every household and every business in the metropolitan province its own prepaid meter. Depending on what sort of plumbing staff is lined up, it will take time to connect such a meter for every user, but the sooner we start the better.
We assume that the meters are sufficiently modern that payment will be easy. What almost everyone wants is the same sort of payment system that Zesa uses, that people can grab their phone at 2am on Sunday morning and buy some water using mobile money or, at least for larger users, online banking.
Harare City Council’s bright idea when it was testing prepaid meters some years ago was for people to carry their smart card, assuming they had not lost it, to one of the two city centre offices and stand in a long queue during business hours to have it recharged. That alone made the system wrong.
Secondly, as people are connected to a prepaid meter their rates account must be immediately changed so that the water charges do not appear. This has been possibly the biggest bone of contention for years, that people are expected to pay for water they do not get, or only get as occasionally.
The lack of a proper financial system at Harare City Council will probably make this harder, but some method must be in place to make sure it is implemented in tandem with the prepaid meter installations.
Thirdly, the opportunity should be taken to make sure all flats in a block, and all businesses in a joint premises, have their own individual meters, just as Zesa gives everyone their own individual electricity meter. Shared meters are a disaster and become an even bigger one with prepaid meters.
These meters should be giving the water entity a decent cash flow, which they will need as they take a very deep breath and rebuild the treatment plants and start the lengthy process of repairing and replacing all sections of the distribution network, the piping, the pumps and the reservoirs. But each extra cubic metre they can treat and deliver without losses increases their cash flow, and so makes more money available.
The pricing of the water will cause some debate. There is no water regulator, and for a near monopoly there should be one, or at least some independent authority that can look at the financial needs and see what price would be fair for a very efficient provider. Consumers should not be asked to pay for inefficiency and waste.
We would assume that as leaks are sorted out, or pipe sections replaced if they are totally rotten, and because of the prepaid meters everyone paying for what they get, then the present rates will probably be close to what is needed and any adjustments can be explained and justified.
Guaranteed water supplies 24/7 will make consumers more willing to think about a properly presented charge schedule, especially if the water accounts are properly and regularly audited.
We doubt that Harare City Council has been spending even the water levies it includes on its rates account on water for some time, considering the other more urgent demands such as fancy cars and foreign holidays for senior staff.
Whoever sets the water rates could take another leaf out of the ZESA book and have a lower rate for the first essential number of units and then increase charges later on.
That is justified by letting everyone have a small ration of water using the old inherited capital investment.
There used to be such a system in past, and so it not anything brand new.
Online Reporter