Rural Free Basic Water under magnifying glass

Abstract

The Water Wheel September-October 2005 18 FREE BASIC WATER While the FBW policy has been implemented relatively promptly and successfully in most urban areas, implementation in the rural areas has been much more difficult, with many rural villages not yet seeing the rollout of this basic service. In fact, few water services authorities (WSAs), which is the local or district municipality in most cases, have a fully operational policy that is reaching the rural areas. There are a myriad of reasons for this lack of implementation, mostly to do with varying financial, technical, political and logistical problems at local and district municipality level. In rural areas water provision is generally communal, unmetered and, for the most part, not paid for. Even where rural areas exist alongside more wealthy urban areas, there are only limited opportunities for cross subsidisation – especially as rural consumers are usually connected to stand-alone community-based water systems. Developing new water systems in the rural areas means more than simply putting taps in the ground.

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