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  • Austral COWI, lda
  • Austral COWI, lda
  • Austral COWI, lda
  • Austral COWI, lda
  • Austral COWI, lda
  • Austral COWI, lda
  • Austral COWI, lda
  • Austral COWI, lda
  • Austral COWI, lda

AustralCOWI going strong on water
24 November 2009: With several new water projects in the pipeline, AustralCOWI is becoming an important actor in the area of Water Sector Development in Mozambique, drawing upon the expertise and broad experience of the global COWI network in this area. COWI is already well recognized for several major water projects in the southern African region.

The new AustralCOWI projects include:
  • PRIMA, a project involving water resources management and stakeholder participation related to the Incomati and Maputo rivers, which are shared by Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland.
  • Feasibility studies, design construction supervision, including environmental and social impact assessment in cities such as Pemba, Quelimane and Nampula - being part of MCA (Millennium Challenge Account) projects, which in a long term perspective are to cover a number of smaller, medium and larger towns in Mozambique.
  • Shared watercourses support projects at the Rovuma, Buzi and Save river basins
  • Technical assistance to the National Water Directorate of Mozambique (DNA)
  • AustralCOWI expertise also exported to water projects in Tunis and Malawi.

Vagn Rehoj, Business Development Manager on Water and Environment in region Africa, is visiting Mozambique to support and advice the AustralCOWI team in their efforts to support the water sector development in the country;

Vagn Rehoj, why is water sector development important for the fight against poverty in Mozambique?
First of all, it is important to support an equal access to clean and safe water - access not only to the rich people, but also the poor. It is especially important for poor women and girls, who often spend many hours every day to catch water. They could spend their time and energy doing other important activities. The girls should go to school instead of catching water… Access to clean water and better sanitary conditions are also important to reduce water borne diseases and improve the general health situation of people in the poor communities. Improving the water and sanitation literally saves lives.

What do you see as the major challenges of Water Sector Development in Mozambique and the Southern African region?
The greatest challenge is to ensure the financial viability of sector investments, ensuring that the cost recovery of user tariffs and possible government subsidies at least covers operation and maintenance costs. You need legislation that supports this, and you need a system with balanced level of tariffs, ensuring that the poor part of population can afford the level of service that is offered.  Often this means a difference in tariffs related to where you live; people in the rich neighborhoods pay more, the poor pay less - and if needed the Government pays their part, giving subsidies in a transparent way.  Another major challenge is to make the water supply institutionally cost efficient. Mostly it's not the technical issues, but the institutional and financial issues that are the most challenging.

So the Governance part is important?
Yes, very much! Good governance in the water sector is crucial.

What is the most important contribution of AustralCOWI in dealing with these challenges?
AustralCOWI has great expertise in conducting feasibility studies, which among others involve "affordability and willingness-to-pay" surveys, indicating what levels of service people can afford. A question in the survey could for example be: "For you to have a 50 meter walk to the nearest water plot will cost xxx Mt; for you to have water pipes and taps in your own house will cost yyy Mt - What can you afford?" It's important to give people informed choices. AustralCOWI contributes to that, using a demand based approach - you don't just put the water pipes in the ground, you ask people what they want - you ask what kind of service level they prefer considering the cost implications.  

AustralCOWI's contribution to the water sector might not be huge in terms of man days and money spent, but the contribution is very important for the sustainability of the water projects. AustralCOWI is addressing the most critical issues related to financial viability, and also pushing for institutional improvements in the sector.  

Having highlighted the importance of efforts made by a private sector consultancy company, and also stressing the need for better governance in the water sector... What is your appeal to the people actually living with the problems - the people in daily need of clean and safe water?  
Wash your hands! A simple, yet extremely important message - you don't get the full benefit of technical infrastructure and improved water sanitation if people don't wash their hands. It is the responsibility of community health workers to disseminate the messages and ensure basic hygiene among all. Actually there is a worldwide “Clean-hands-save-lives” campaign going on right now (initiated by the UN in 2008) saying: "Everyone can make a difference!"

AustralCOWI is also making a difference… When implementing a big water project, I would say that approximately half of the budget is for pure engineering, while the other half is used for non-engineering activities such as institutional and financial aspects, and community health issues and environment - and for now this is where AustralCOWI is strongest and most involved. However, the company is also considering moving into the actual engineering part, as COWI globally has broad experience and expertise in this field.

FACTS ABOUT WATER:

  • Over 884 million people in the world still use unsafe drinking water sources.
  • In 1997, only 8.5 per cent of the houses in Mozambique had piped water, inside or outside the house. By 2007 that figure had slowly risen to 10.1 per cent. 
  • 10.3 per cent of the population In MOzambique draw their water from public standpipes and 14.1 per cent has access to a protected well or borehole with a pump.
  • A majority of the Mozambican population still obtains their water from unprotected sources; 46.9 per cent use traditional wells without any hand pumps and 17.3 per cent simply take their water from a river or lake.
Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation services, coupled with poor hygiene practices, kills and sickens thousands of children every day, and leads to impoverishment and diminished opportunities for thousands more. Poor sanitation, water and hygiene have many other serious repercussions. Children – and particularly girls – are denied their right to education because their schools lack private and decent sanitation facilities. Women are forced to spend large parts of their day fetching water. Poor farmers and wage earners are less productive due to illness, health systems are overwhelmed and national economies suffer. Without WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), sustainable development is impossible.

(Sources: UNICEF/WHO/2007 population census in Mozambique)
 
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