Water & Wastewater Treatment

www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | december 2014 | 31 Digging deeper sive water vendors and small scale independent suppliers, which can cost up to 15 times more than the official tariff rates. Although many of the towns have received recent infrastructure investment, less atten- tion has been given to building the capacity of existing water and wastewater services. As they come under increasing pressure, maximising the efficiency of existing services is as important as providing new ones. A recent survey carried out by WaterAid Ethiopia showed that many of the water board members and utility staff managing the wa- ter supply and sanitation services are new to the sector and lack experience. The main knowledge gaps include detect- ing and fixing leaks, managing billing and revenue collection, and integrating water and sewage services. To improve access to water and sanitation ser- vices, particularly for families living in unplanned settlements, work needs to be done to ensure water supply networks are managed effectively, water loss through leaks is reduced, income is increased by improving "We have to ensure that a water resource, its distribution and the means to safely dispose of waste water without damaging human health or the environment, are in place before new development is occupied" Stephanie Walden, Yorkshire Water revenue collection and there are better planning procedures in place. Yorkshire Water is one of the project's lead partners providing capacity building support as part of a new five-year partnership with WaterAid. As well as committing to raise £1 million to fund water and sanitation projects across Ethiopia, they will share learning and knowledge from their own urban planning work to help to tackle some of the major challenges facing utility providers, including revenue collection, leakage, water quality and waste management. In November 2013, a team from Yorkshire Water visited three of the towns involved in the project to look in more detail at the challenges they face and agree a programme of support. Since WaterAid started working in Ethiopia, we have reached more than two million people with clean water and improved sanitation. Through the 20 towns project, which runs until March 2018, we hope to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of water and sanitation services by at least 20% and improve access to these vital services for thousands more. Urban planning across Africa Increasing pressure on water and sanitation ser- vices as a result of population growth isn't just an issue in urban Ethiopia but in cities across Africa. Since 2012, WaterAid has been looking at urban planning on a broader scale as part of a city-wide urban planning for sanitation and water project. While city-wide planning has been a tried and tested approach for centuries, its use by the development community is relatively new. Through the project, we are hoping to show that a long-term and pro-poor city-wide approach to urban planning can and should complement community-level water and sanitation service delivery; and we are trying to understand more about the bottlenecks and incentives for long-term water and sanitation planning in four African cities (Lusaka in Zambia, Kinshasa in DR Congo, Lagos in Nigeria and Maputo in Mozam- bique). Urban planning authorities face many challenges when providing services to meet the needs of a growing population. Under the burden of current expansion, it can be difficult to plan for the decades to come as well as build the infrastructure needed to support a city's fast growth. Looking at the historical urban development of each city, their current state of infrastructure and any relevant urban master plans, we are working with governments, municipal authori- ties and utility companies to develop water and sanitation proposals for each city for the next 50-100 years. We believe by taking this long- term, city-wide approach we can encourage city authorities to plan and invest so that people living in all areas of the city will have a regular supply of clean water and adequate toilet and sewage facilities, even if population growth continues at the rapid rate predicted. • Richard Flint, Yorkshire Water CEO and WaterAid UK Trustee "As one of the UK water companies that founded WaterAid back in 1981, Yorkshire Water has been a long-standing supporter and we are proud to be playing our part in providing safe water and sanitation to some of the world's poorest communities. "We recently added global safe water to our core business priorities and by providing fundraising, campaigning and capacity building support to WaterAid, we believe we can help to deliver real change. "WaterAid's approach is to work with local partners and communities to design and build sustainable water and sanitation facilities. By sharing learning and linking up water and sanitation professionals in Ethiopia and here in Yorkshire, we believe we can help to address some of the capacity building needs identified by local partners in Ethiopia and by the WaterAid Ethiopia team." • Stephanie Walden, Land Use Planning Manager, Yorkshire Water "As part of our asset planning process at Yorkshire Water, we use population forecasts to determine where we need to build new or reinforce existing as- sets to serve new development. "We have to ensure that a water resource, its distribution and the means to safely dispose of waste water without damaging human health or the environment, are in place before new development is occupied, and we work with local planning authorities and developers to this end. "It was clear from my visit to Ethiopia - when two colleagues and I visited several municipal utilities - that they are wrestling with the same issues. Just driving between the towns demonstrated that rapid growth is happening and while transport infrastructure is being constructed, there seemed to be a gap in terms of ensuring that water, and particularly sanitation and solid waste disposal, is being provided to serve this new development. "Talking to the engineers and managers at the utilities confirmed this view. They identified that we at Yorkshire Water can help with training (as in the UK, there is something of an engineering skills gap) and work closely with other partners such as urban planners. Given my role at Yorkshire Water I am particularly excited to be involved with this work."

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