Demand Management strategy. In Ghana, the water restructuring secretariat introduced Water Demand Management in the regulatory framework and in the national water policy. In Johannesburg Water Demand Management generated sufficient savings in water demand to justify the cancellation of a project to build an additional water reservoir, while in Addis Ababa, despite a growing population and drought, demand management resulted in a USD 1.6 million savings to the government per year (UN-HABITAT undated).

IMPROVING WATER QUALITY AND YIELDS

Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) seeks to improve water quality and yields through better management of watersheds. PES is a management strategy, which focuses on maintaining the flow of an ecosystem service such as clean water, biodiversity habitat or carbon sequestration capabilities in exchange for something of economic value. In Africa PES activities are still at conceptual stages, with few exceptions such as the Lesotho Highlands Water Project in which communities in Lesotho are reimbursed by the downstream water users in the industrial Gauteng region of South Africa for the provision of watershed protection services. While South Africa pays about USD 2 million per year for water from Lesotho, the greatest benefit to the communities is the improved livelihoods of the Lesotho Highlands communities through better agricultural output from irrigated farming as well as access to alternative energy to firewood through the 110 MW of hydro-electricity (Santho and Gemmil undated).

Dar es Salaam, which faces water shortages as a result of decreasing flows and poor water quality in the Ruvu River, is mulling a payments for watershed services initiative. Under this initiative communities living in the river’s upstream catchments in the Uluguru Mountains will receive incentives from the major industries in Dar es Salaam in return for better farming methods and reduced deforestation, which threaten vital hydrological functions performed by healthy forest ecosystems. The initiative envisions developing a market for watershed services in which beneficiaries of better river health, mainly industry, will ‘buy’ services produced by land managers in the water catchment. Besides illustrating the PES approach, the initiative also provides an opportunity to explore how public-private partnerships could work in Tanzania (Riddington and Scholler 2006).

ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF WATER

Through rainwater harvesting, groundwater access and desalinisation, some cities are making efforts to ensure adequate water supplies.

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