Water supply and sanitation in Senegal

Senegal Senegal Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north... : Water and Sanitation
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Data
Water coverage (broad definition)	76%
Sanitation coverage (broad definition)	57%
Continuity of supply	Yes
Average urban water use (l/c/d)	62
Average urban domestic water and sewer bill for 20 m³	US$ 8.50/month (water only) plus US$ 1/month for sewerage
Share of household metering	high
Non-revenue water Non-revenue water Non revenue water is water that has been produced and is “lost” before it reaches the customer. Losses can be real losses or apparent losses . High levels of NRW are detrimental to the financial viability of water utilities, as well to the quality of water itself...	20%
Share of collected wastewater treated	low
Annual investment in WSS	US$50 million per year (1996-2006 average) or US$ 4.5/capita
Share of self-financing by utilities	high
Share of tax-financing	zero
Share of external financing	high
Institutions
Decentralization to municipalities	No
National water and sanitation company	Yes
Water and sanitation regulator	No
Responsibility for policy setting	Ministère de l'Urbanisme, de l'Habitat, de l'Hydraulique urbaine, de l'Hygiène publique et de l'Assainissement
Sector law	No
Number of urban service providers	A holding company (SONES) and an operator (SDE) for water; 1 for sanitation (ONAS)
Number of rural service providers	1,400 community-based groups (ASUFOR)

Water supply and sanitation in Senegal is characterized by a relatively high level of access compared to the average of Sub-Saharan Africa. One of the interesting features is a public-private partnership

Public-private partnership

Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...

(PPP) that has been operating in Senegal

Senegal

Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...

since 1996, with Senegalaise des Eaux (SDE), a subsidiary of Saur International, as the private partner. It does not own the water system but manages it on a 10-year lease contract with the Senegalese government. Between 1996 and 2003, water production has increased by 18 percent with 81,000 new household connections and 400 standpipes. According to the World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

, "the Senegal case is regarded as a model of public-private partnership in sub-Saharan Africa". Another interesting feature is the existence of a national sanitation company in charge of sewerage, wastewater treatment and stormwater drainage, which has been modeled on the example of the national sanitation company of Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

and is unique in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Access

In 2004 76% of the population of Senegal had access to an improved water source (compared to an average of 56% for Sub-Saharan Africa) and 57% had access to adequate sanitation (compared to an average of 37% for Sub-Saharan Africa). Concerning water supply, there is a significant gap between urban areas (92%) access) and rural areas (60%). For sanitation, access rates display an even starker gap between urban (79%) and rural (34 %) areas. In urban areas, 75% have access to water connections in their house or yard and another 17% rely on water kiosks and standpipes. Concerning sanitation, only 19% of the urban population are connected to sewers while another 60% are served by septic tanks or improved household-level latrines.

Access to Water and Sanitation in Senegal (2004)
		Urban (50% of the population)	Rural (50% of the population)	Total
Water	Broad definition Improved water source According to the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation by the World Health Organization and UNICEF the following are considered as "improved" water sources:* household connections* public standpipes* boreholes* protected dug wells...	92%	60%	76%
Water	House connections	75%	17%	46%
Sanitation	Broad definition Improved sanitation According to the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation by the World Health Organization and UNICEF the following are considered as "improved" sanitation:* connection to a public sewer* connection to a septic system* pour-flush latrine...	79%	34%	57%
Sanitation	Sewerage	19%	2%	11%

Source: Joint Monitoring Program for Water and Sanitation of WHO

Who

Who may refer to:* Who , an English-language pronoun* who , a Unix command* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism- Art and entertainment :* Who? , a 1958 novel by Algis Budrys...

and UNICEF

A key data sources for these access figures is the Senegalese survey as part of the WHO's World Health Survey of 2003. The figure for access to an improved source of water in urban areas reported in the survey (92%) is somewhat lower than the figure reported by the utility SDE and subsequently quoted, among others, by the World Bank (98%).

Service quality

Water supply in most cities in Dakar and most other cities in Senegal is continuous. In 1994, service was still provided 16 hours per day on average. Faced with an increasing demand from newly connected users and constraints on water resources, the private operator initially only distributed the supply interruptions more equitably among neighborhoods in Dakar. However, the average hours of supply per day were increased to 19 hours in 2001 and continuous water supply was achieved in 2006.

Concerning drinking water quality, in 2004 97.7% of water samples were in conformity with microbiological water norms, up from 96% in 1996.

Water resources

Senegal's climate is tropical

Tropical climate

A tropical climate is a climate of the tropics. In the Köppen climate classification it is a non-arid climate in which all twelve months have mean temperatures above...

with well-defined dry and humid seasons. Dakar's annual rainfall of about 600 mm occurs between June and October. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 270 mm/yr in the North to 1793 mm/yr in the South. Interior temperatures are much higher than along the coast.

The largest water resource in the country is the Senegal River

Sénégal River

The Sénégal River is a long river in West Africa that forms the border between Senegal and Mauritania.The Sénégal's headwaters are the Semefé and Bafing rivers which both originate in Guinea; they form a small part of the Guinean-Malian border before coming together at Bafoulabé in Mali...

in the North, shared with Mauritania, Mali and Guinea. Its average flow is 37 billion cubic meters per year. The Lac de Guiers

Lac de Guiers

The Lac de Guiers or Lake Guiers is a lake in northern Senegal, south of the city of Richard-Toll and in the Louga and Saint-Louis regions...

is an important water reservoir in the Upper Delta of the Senegal River on its left bank with a storage volume of almost 500 million cubic meters. It is a chief source of fresh water for the city of Dakar, hundreds of kilometers to the south-west, through underground pipes. While the water of the Senegal River is abundant, water in most of the rest of the country is scarce. Other major surface water bodies include the Casamance River

Casamance River

The Casamance River flows westward for the most part into the Atlantic Ocean along a path about 200 miles in length. However, only 80 miles of it are navigable. The Casamance is the principal river of the Kolda, Sédhiou, and Ziguinchor Regions in the southern portion of Senegal between The...

, the Gambia River

Gambia River

The Gambia River is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul...

, the Saloum River

Saloum River

The Saloum River rises about 105 kilometers east of Kaolack, Senegal, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The significant Saloum Delta is located at its mouth, which is protected as Saloum Delta National Park. The river basin lies within the Kingdom of Saloum....

, the Geba River

Geba River

The Geba is a river of West Africa that rises in Guinea, passes through Senegal, and reaches the Atlantic Ocean in Guinea-Bissau. It is about in total length.Its tributary the Colufe River joins the Geba at Bafatá...

, the Falémé River

Faleme River

The Falémé River is a river in West Africa. The Falémé arises in northern Guinea and flows in a north-northeast direction to Mali, forming a short portion of the border between Guinea and Senegal...

and the Tamna lagoon near Thiès

Thiès

Thiès is the third largest city in Senegal with a population officially estimated at 320,000 in 2005. It lies 60 km east of Dakar on the N2 road and at the junction of railway lines to Dakar, Bamako and St-Louis...

.

Senegal has about 3 billion cubic meters per year of renewable groundwater resources, excluding those groundwater resources that overlap with surface water. Total water withdrawals in 1987 were 1.4 billion cubic meter, of which 92% is for agriculture, 3% for industry and 5% for domestic uses. Groundwater reserves include shallow aquifers which are 0-20 m deep in the Casamance

Casamance

Casamance is the area of Senegal south of The Gambia including the Casamance River. It consists of Basse Casamance and Haute Casamance...

and 40-60 m deep in Kaolack

Kaolack

Kaolack is a town of 172,305 people on the north bank of the Saloum River and the N1 road in Senegal. It is the capital of the Kaolack Region, which borders The Gambia to the south. Kaolack is an important regional market town and is Senegal's main peanut trading and processing center...

and Tamba

Tamba

The word Tamba may refer to:* Tamba Province, a former province in Japan* Tamba, Hyōgo, a city in Japan* Tamba , a Limited Express train service operated by West Japan Railway Company.* Tamba , a genus of noctuid moths...

, as well as crop-outs in the area of Dakar

Dakar

Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

and Thiès

Thiès

. They also include deep aquifers at a depth of 200-400m. Groundwater stocks are estimated at 7 billion cubic meters.

Groundwater overexploitation

Overexploitation

Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Sustained overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource...

is a serious problem in parts of Senegal. For example, Mont Rolland, 70 kilometers from Dakar, used to be famous for its mineral springs. Today, villagers need to drill as deep as 80 meters to pump water. The village's groundwater was seriously depleted by over-extraction by the mineral water company, which closed its doors recently. Almost 80 percent of Senegalese horticulturalists are located around Mont Rolland.

Dakar

Dakar

Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

is supplied primarily with water drawn from fossil aquifers that run the risk of being over-exploited and contaminated by salt water intrusion. Some water is being brought in from the Ngnith water treatment plant on the Lake Guiers through a pipeline whose capacity was increased in 1999. Because of growing demand and the need to close contaminated boreholes, even more surface water will have to be brought from the Senegal River

Sénégal River

over a distance of about 240 km, which entails high investment costs to further expand the capacity of the existing pipeline. The additional volume of water that would be abstracted from the Senegal River is expected to gradually increase from 0.5 m³/s to about 6.0 m³/s in 2030. The required needs are well within Senegal's water rights under the agreements with neighboring countries. However, abstraction of such large quantities of water would have a significant environmental impact on the Lake Guiers and the Senegal River Delta. Furthermore, future low-flow situations of the Senegal River are difficult to predict in the light of climate change and uncertainties about the operations of the Manantali Dam

Manantali Dam

The Manantali Dam is a multi-purpose dam on the Bafing river in the Senegal River basin, 90 km to the south-east of Bafoulabé, in Mali's Kayes Region.-History:...

.

Most of the wastewater of Dakar is discharged without treatment into the Atlantic Ocean. Cambérène wastewater treatment plant, the largest facility in operation in the country, treats about 15 percent of the wastewater generated in Dakar. Since 2007 the station is being operated and expanded by the French company SAUR. Some of the treated wastewater is being reused. As of 2007, reuse was being practiced for a golf course and was envisaged for the irrigation of trees, green spaces and vegetable gardens after tertiary treatment.

Infrastructure

Sanitation In 2005 ONAS operated a sewer network of 773 km, 57 sewage pumping stations, 7 wastewater treatment plants, and had 70,931 subscribers in Dakar

Dakar

Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

, Saint-Louis

Saint-Louis, Senegal

Saint-Louis, or Ndar as it is called in Wolof, is the capital of Senegal's Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, and 320 km north of Senegal's capital city Dakar, it has a population officially estimated at 176,000 in 2005. Saint-Louis...

, Rufisque

Rufisque

Rufisque is a city in the Dakar region of western Senegal, at the base of the Cap-Vert Peninsula. It has a population of 179,797 . In the past it was an important port city in its own right, but is now a suburb of Dakar....

, Louga

Louga

Louga is a town in northwestern Senegal. Louga is a cattle market centre and has road and rail links with the port city of Saint-Louis to the northwest and Dakar to the southwest...

, Thiès

Thiès

, Saly

Saly

Saly is a seaside resort area on the Petite Côte of Senegal, south of Dakar. It is the top tourist destination in all of West Africa.-History:...

and Kaolack

Kaolack

. It also operated 113 km of stormwater drains and 7 stormwater pumping stations in Dakar and 4 towns.

Policy

The Ministère de l'Urbanisme, de l'Habitat, de l'Hydraulique urbaine, de l'Hygiène publique et de l'Assainissement is in charge of policy setting for urban water supply and sanitation.

The Ministère de l'Hydraulique rurale et du Réseau hydrographique national is in charge of rural water supply. These responsibilities were previously under the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Ministère de l'Environnement, de la Protection de la Nature, des Bassins de rétention et des Lacs artificiels is in charge of certain aspects of water resources management.

The government has launched a Water and Sanitation Program for the Millennium (PEPAM) to reach the Millennium Development Goals for water supply and sanitation. The program is not a project, but provides a framework for all stakeholders in the sector. The objectives until 2015 are as follows:

In rural areas:

Provide sustainable water supply to an additional 2.3 million people, increasing access from 64% in 2004 to 82% in 2015.
Allow 355,000 rural households to install an individual solution to manage their excreta and domestic greywater
Greywater
Greywater is wastewater generated from domestic activities such as laundry, dishwashing, and bathing, which can be recycled on-site for uses such as landscape irrigation and constructed wetlands...

, increasing access from 17% in 2004 to 59% in 2015.
Ensure the sanitation of the most important public buildings through the construction of 3,360 sanitary facilities in schools, health posts, markets and bus stations.

In urban areas:

Provide house connections to water supply to an additional 1.64 million people, to reach an access rate of 88% in Dakar and 79% in towns in the interior in 2015, compared to 75.7% and 57.1% respectively in 2002.
Allow 1.73 million additional people access to sanitation, increasing access from 56.7% in 2002 to 78% in 2015.

Service provision

Responsibility for urban water supply is shared between the Senegalese national water company (Société Nationale des Eaux du Senegal (SONES)), a holding company, and Sénégalaise des Eaux (SDE), a private operating company. Initially, the French water company SAUR owned a 51% share in SDE, the remaining 49% being divided between the Senegalese state (5%), private Senegalese individuals (39%) and the employees (5%). As of 2011, SAUR was not listed any more as a shareholder on the website of SDE. Instead its shares are held by the West African infrastructure holding company Finagestion, which in turn is majority-owned by the US-based, Africa-focused private equity

Private equity

Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....

fund Emerging Capital Partners

Emerging Capital Partners

Emerging Capital Partners is an international private equity firm focused on investing across the African continent including Francophone Africa. The firm is the first private equity group to raise over US$1.8 billion to invest exclusively in African companies. The firm's investors are...

.

The Office National de l’Assainissement du Sénégal (ONAS) is in charge of sanitation.

In rural areas, user associations called Associations d’usagers de forages ruraux (ASUFOR) manage water systems supplied by tubewells. The state obliges them to sign maintenance contracts with private companies, in order to ensure the sustainability of the systems. In addition, they can also delegate operation of their systems to private operators.

Innovative approaches

Among various innovative approaches introduced in the Senegalese water sector over the past decade, the country-wide lease (affermage) contract, the Public-Private-NGO-Community Partnership for standpipes in Dakar, and the use of small enterprises to maintain rural and small town water systems with the support of micro-credits stand out particularly.

Affermage for urban water supply

One of the best-known and successful innovative approaches in water supply in Senegal is the lease (affermage) contract signed in 1996. According to the Senegalese government, the number of clients of SDE increased from 241,671 in 1996 to 454,712 in 2007. Out of the more than 210,000 new connections, 120,000 were social connections serving the poorest population, primarily on the outskirts of Dakar.

According to the World Bank, the government was successful at reaching the poor through the establishment of a national fund to allow the private operator to subsidize Social Connections. It aimed at providing improved services to the poor for a lower price. Social connections were free, while a connection fee was charged for ordinary connections aimed at wealthier households. SDE and SONES worked through a large NGO to identify the need for social connections. In addition, the private operator set up a decentralized and computerized network of payment booths. This made payments by domestic clients easier, and improved customer services. The operator’s remuneration was based on the amount of water produced and sold, creating an incentive to serve as many customers as possible while reducing water losses.

A 2006 study by the Boston Institute for Developing Economies (BIDE) estimated the total net benefits of the lease contract at a staggering US$457 million, of which the bulk accrued to customers who received better access to higher volumes of water, and to the government, with only small benefits accruing to the public and private owners of the water company (US$ 6 million). Losers included employees (US$ 10 million) through lower increases in wages and benefits compared to the period prior to the reform and through a small reduction in employment, and foreign lenders (US$ 14 million).

Selection of the private operator The private operator was selected competitively in a two-stage bidding process. Four bidders, all of them French, participated in the first stage: Générale des Eaux (now Vivendi Environnement), Lyonnaise des Eaux (now SUEZ

SUEZ

Suez S.A. was a leading French-based multinational corporation headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, with operations primarily in water, electricity and natural gas supply, and waste management. Suez was result of a 1997 merger between the Compagnie de Suez and Lyonnaise des Eaux, a...

), the Société d'Aménagement Urbain et Rural (SAUR), and CISE (which has since merged with SAUR).
The two-stage process entailed inviting pre-qualified bidders to submit a first-stage technical proposal that is evaluated, after which each bidder was invited to a meeting to discuss the shortcomings of their technical proposal. A potentially difficult situation arose when SAUR was invited to bid, as SAUR already had a long-standing relationship with SONEES. SAUR had been working as an advisor to SONEES since 1980. The government considered eliminating them from the bidding, but the World Bank did not agree. Instead, SONEES was instructed to finish up all contracts, end all contact, and provide SAUR with no access to their operation four months before the bidding took place. Finally, all four bidders were invited to submit revised technical proposals, accompanied by financial bids. All four bidders responded. Lyonnaise des Eaux was eliminated as the submission was non-compliant. After further discussions, the bid from Générale des Eaux was also eliminated, as they refused to entirely endorse some of the requirements of the contract. The two remaining bidders, CISE and SAUR, were then invited to present second-stage bids. When these were opened on October 25, 1995, SAUR was announced the winner, based on price. SAUR had bid a water supply rate of 236 FCFA per cubic meter, which at the time was 62 percent of the average tariff.

Criticism According to critics, such as the Dakar-based regional NGO Aide Transparence, the number of connections has increased from a much lower base of 203,902 in 1996 to only 264,161 in 2002. This contrasts with SDE figures which state that the number of connections was 338,398 in 2002. According to the report by Aide Transparence, "consumers often complain about a reduction in water quality" and that "the use of mineral water has never before been so widespread in Senegal", without providing any specific figures. It also says that "in certain areas or at certain points in the year" there is no tap water for a whole day or even for several days.

Community partnership for standpipes in Dakar

Another innovative approach is the community partnership with SONES, SdE and an international NGO with local roots, Enda Tiers-Monde, to select the location for standpipes, build and to operate them. The program installs metered standposts to serve poor households who previously used polluted well water. The program is demand-responsive rather than relying on supply-side targeting of the poor. Community involvement is strong—they are heavily involved in planning, construction and maintenance, leading to strong ownership and near 100 per cent cost recovery. All standposts are metered—the households pay the standpost operator whilst the operator pays the utility for bulk water. The community itself chooses the operator (or a group of rotating operators) who may work for the community for a salary or occasionally for themselves for a share. There are two types of standpipe schemes—in one SONES fully finances the cost of the infrastructure, in the other ENDA finances the infrastructure. This latter scheme, known as the ‘Eau Populaire’ program, began in 1995. The SONES scheme has installed roughly 250 standposts, the ENDA scheme roughly 130. In 2001, an estimated 200,000 people had received access to potable water thanks to the ‘Eau Populaire’ project. The project has led to a significant drop in waterborne illnesses in children. It has also led to the creation of several hundred jobs (standpost operators who receive between 30,000 and 80,000 CFA per month), as well as funding other local projects via standpost receipts.

Rural water supply

In rural areas, the government supported the introduction of more sustainable management models for piped water systems using boreholes since 1999 through the pilot project REGEFOR in Central Senegal. Among the innovative features of the project are the use of metering and volumetric pricing, mandatory maintenance contracts with private sector companies and support through micro-credit. The first pilot project covered 80 boreholes. In 2009 a private maintenance company is to be contracted for 621 boreholes in the central area of Senegal, and until January 2010 all the country's 1,400 boreholes are to be under private maintenance contracts.

First public-private partnership (1960-71)

1960-71: The Compagnie Générale des Eaux du Sénégal, a subsidiary of the Compagnie Générale des Eaux

Compagnie Générale des Eaux

Compagnie Générale des Eaux was a French multinational company which gave birth to three world's leaders in their respective fields: VINCI, Veolia Environnement and Vivendi....

of France is in charge of urban water supply in Senegal under a lease (affermage) contract.

Public management (1971–mid-1990s)

1971: Under President Léopold Senghor, an advocate of African socialism

African socialism

African socialism is a belief in sharing economic resources in a "traditional" African way, as distinct from classical socialism. Many African politicians of the 1950s and 1960s professed their support for African socialism, although definitions and interpretations of this term varied...

, the state nationalizes the water company and creates the national public water company Société Nationale d'Exploitation des Eaux du Sénégal (SONEES). At least in rural areas water is provided for free.

1983: Under President Abdou Diouf

Abdou Diouf

Abdou Diouf was the second President of Senegal, serving from 1981 to 2000. Diouf is notable both for coming to power by peaceful succession, and leaving willingly after losing the 2000 presidential election to Abdoulaye Wade...

(1981-2000), SONEES signs a concession contract with the government. In rural areas, water tariffs are being introduced using flat fees per household in the absence of metering.

1994: The government embarks on a year-long process to design sector reforms, including a series of workshops and advice from the World Bank and an assessment of reforms in other countries.

Second public-private partnership (since mid-1990s)

1995: The government decides to delegate urban water service provision to the private sector under a lease contract in its first letter of development policy.

1996: SONEES is dissolved and three new companies are created: Société Nationale des Eaux du Sénégal (SONES), the state asset holding company, Sénégalaise des Eaux (SDE), the private operating company, and the Office National de l’Assainissement du Sénégal (ONAS), the public sanitation company. SONES owns the assets, is in charge of investments in infrastructure, and regulation of SDE. SDE is responsible for operation, regular maintenance, some investment for system expansion, as well as billing and collection. According to the World Bank, good relationships were helped by the fact that no major layoffs were necessary during the reforms, as the utility was not very overstaffed to begin with.

1998: SONES and SDE successfully renegotiate several unattainable targets in the contract without resorting to arbitration or litigation.

1998: A Conseil Supérieur de l’Eau, presided by the Prime Minister, is created to set policies for water resources management and water supply.

1999: The pilot project REGEFOR is initiated in Central Senegal with the support of the French Development Agency

French Development Agency

French Development Agency is the French international development agency.The Agence Française de Développement is a public institution providing development financing...

AFD with the objective to develop new management principles based on the disengagement of the State in favor of users and the private sector: metering, volumetric pricing, trained managers and technicians and clear relationships between the different actors. This required a “cultural revolution” among villagers and within the administration, whose responsibility to maintain the equipment was transferred to the private sector.

2000: Change of government after Presidential elections that are won by the opposition leader Abdoulaye Wade

Abdoulaye Wade

Abdoulaye Wade is the third and current President of Senegal, in office since 2000. He is also the Secretary-General of the Senegalese Democratic Party and has led the party since it was founded in 1974...

.

2001: Second letter of development policy and effectiveness of the World Bank-supported Long-Term Water Sector Project. Water and sanitation policies are pursued without major changes.

2002: Sénégalaise Des Eaux is certified according to the ISO 9001 norm, version 2000, by the French association for quality assurance AFAQ. SdE is the first Senegalese company that has received an ISO certification and the first African company certified according to the ISO 9001 norm based on customer satisfaction management.

2005: Third letter of development policy. The Water and Sanitation Program for the Millennium (PEPAM) is created. In rural areas, the pilot project REGEFOR is completed successfully and its approach is now being introduced at a national level.

2006: The lease contract with SDE is extended by five more years. A performance contract is signed with SONES.

2008: The government signs a performance contract with ONAS.

Financial aspects and efficiency

The financial policy of the sector, as defined in 1994, is based on the following key principles:

The only support from the State is in the form of on-lending of donor’s financing; there are no ongoing operating subsidies.
There will be no excessive increases in water tariffs; tariff increases are gradual on the basis of a financial model.
There is a social tariff (the subsidized first block of the tariff for consumption under 10 m³ per month) in order to ensure affordability.

Tariffs and cost recovery

Urban water tariffs SDE applies an increasing-block tariff, which includes three blocks:

a social tariff for low-consumption users with house connections, defined as those using less than 20 cubic meters every 60 days, which was 191 FCFA/m³ in 2008;
a regular tariff for consumption between 20 and 40 cubic meters (formerly 20-100 cubic meters), which was 630 FCFA/m³ in 2008; and
a "dissuasive" rate for any consumption over 40 cubic meters (formerly 100 cubic meters), which was 789 FCFA/m³ in 2008.

In Dakar water is also sold in buckets at standpipes for 30 CFA (US$ 0.06) per 25 litre bucket, equivalent to US$ 2.40/m³. Guardians of standpipes are small entrepreneurs who buy water from the utility and sell it to their customers.

The NGO Public Citizen

Public Citizen

Public Citizen is a non-profit, consumer rights advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., United States, with a branch in Austin, Texas. Public Citizen was founded by Ralph Nader in 1971, headed for 26 years by Joan Claybrook, and is now headed by Robert Weissman.-Lobbying Efforts:Public Citizen...

has criticized the tariff structure in Senegal, because the poorest who tend to rely on standpipes pay the highest tariffs, "which amounts to 350 percent of the social tariff". In addition, families in low-income areas may share one connection and consequently consume at the "dissuasive" rate. According to Public Citizen, this leads to a situation in which the poorest families subsidize the water of rich families who use normal amounts of water and qualify for the "social" tariff.

A World Bank study acknowledges that standpipe users pay more for water, noting that the government sees them as a temporary solution and intends to reach all the poor with private connections. However, still according to the same World Bank study, this policy suffers from a "major flaw": the very criteria that make a household eligible for the subsidy more or less guarantee that it is not poor. Social connection programs are intended for stable neighborhoods where the residents have
established themselves. In order to obtain a social connection, an applicant must have title to the
land, and an existing house must be located on it. A household that can afford this, and can afford to build a permanent house, is not among the poorest of the poor.

Price increases have been limited to no more than 3 percent per annum in nominal terms under the performance targets, the same as the rate of inflation, thus keeping tariffs constant in real terms. The average water tariff increased from 350 FCFA/m³ in 1995 (US$ 0.72/m³ at the exchange rate of 489 CFA/US$) to 496 FCFA/m³ (US$1.09/m³ at the exchange rate of 456 CFA/m³) in 2007.

Cost recovery for urban water All the financial costs for water supply are entirely recovered, which is highly unusual for a water utility in Sub-Saharan Africa. Interest-free long-term loans provided by international financial institutions to the Senegalese government are on-lent to the asset holding company and are recovered from users through the bills issued and collected by SDE.

Tariffs and cost recovery for sewerage A sanitation surcharge of US$0.05/m³ is levied by SDE on behalf of ONAS on water customers in all cities with a sewer network. The surcharge represents six percent of the water bill for households using 50 m³ per month of water. Revenues generated by this surcharge are insufficient to finance ONAS operations and maintain sewerage and drainage networks. Achieving financial sustainability of ONAS and finding means to devote resources for on-site sanitation promotion and development remains a major challenge for the sub-sector.

While municipalities are not responsible for sanitary or stormwater drainage, they are nevertheless supposed to transfer a portion of the property tax (amounting to US$0.5 million) to ONAS, through the equipment fund for municipalities, to finance operation and maintenance of drainage facilities. However, at least until 2001, these resources were not made available to ONAS.

Collection efficiency in urban areas Tariff collection by SDE reached a rate of 98 percent, up from less than 80 percent before the project according to one World Bank source. According to SDE and another World Bank source the tariff collection rate indeed averaged 98% in 2001-2006, but it was only slightly lower at 96% in 1996. The lease contract was signed in April 1996.

Tariffs and financing policy in rural areas In rural areas beneficiary communities contribute 20% to initial investments and 80% is financed by the government. Operation, maintenance and replacement costs are to be recovered through tariff revenues.

Investments and financing

Investment According to the Senegalese government, financing equivalent to 260 billion FCFA (about US$ 500 million using the 2008 exchange rate) has been mobilized between 1996 and 2006 through the Projet Sectoriel Eau (PSE) and the Projet Eau à Long Terme (PELT). According to other reports, US $300 million were invested in Senegal's water partnership. According to the World Bank, total project cost for Senegal Water Project (including sanitation) was US$290 million for which IDA provided US$100 million. IDA provided another US$125 million equivalent under the follow-up Long Term Water Sector Project.

The budget of the PEPAM for the period 2005-2015 is 515 billion FCFA (about US$1 billion), including 274 billion FCFA for rural areas and 241 billion FCFA for urban areas.

Financing Most of the investments in the sector are being financed by donors through zero-interest loans from the World Bank's International Development Association

International Development Association

The International Development Association , is the part of the World Bank that helps the world’s poorest countries. It complements the World Bank's other lending arm — the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development — which serves middle-income countries with capital investment and...

and the African Development Bank

African Development Bank

The African Development Bank Group is a development bank established in 1964 with the intention of promoting economic and social development in Africa...

or grants from other donors, complemented by government counterpart funds. Investments of US$20 million were financed by the private operator over the first ten years of the lease. In 1996, Citibank

Citibank

Citibank, a major international bank, is the consumer banking arm of financial services giant Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, later First National City Bank of New York...

and the Compagnie Bancaire de l'Afrique Occidentale (CBAO) provided a maximum line of credit of 21.4 million US dollars (11 billion F CFA) over six years to assist the asset-holding company SONES with its cash flow.

Efficiency

Water losses, mostly from leakages, dropped to less than 20 percent in 2006, from 32 percent in 1996. The decline translates to a savings equal to the water needs of 930,000 people.

External cooperation

The World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

, The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the African Development Bank

African Development Bank

The African Development Bank Group is a development bank established in 1964 with the intention of promoting economic and social development in Africa...

, the European Investment Bank

European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank is the European Union's long-term lending institution established in 1958 under the Treaty of Rome. A policy-driven bank, the EIB supports the EU’s priority objectives, especially European integration and the development of economically weak regions...

, the French Development Agency

French Development Agency

French Development Agency is the French international development agency.The Agence Française de Développement is a public institution providing development financing...

(AFD), Germany and the West African Development Bank

West African Development Bank

The West African Development Bank - WADB is an international Multilateral Development Bank established in 1973 to serve the nations of Francophone and Lusophone West Africa...

(BOAD) are among the largest donors in the Senegalese water sector.

In 1995, the World Bank provided a US$100 million IDA credit to the government of Senegal to implement its reform plans. It was followed by a US$ 125 million Long-Term Water Sector Project which became effective in June 2001. In 2006 it also approved a US$ 7.7 million Output-based aid

Output-based aid

Output-based aid refers to development aid strategies that link the delivery of public services in developing countries to targeted performance-related subsidies...

project to support access to on-site sanitation services in Dakar, implemented by ONAS, the public works agency AGETIP

AGETIP

AGETIP is the French acronym for a public works and employment agency in Senegal...

and an NGO.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted two loans (EUR 15 million in 1995 and EUR 16 million in 2001) to the Senegalese Government under the Long-Term Water Project to finance water supply services in Dakar. In November 2007 the EIB signed two additional financing agreements with SONES, in support of Senegal’s National Drinking Water and Sewerage Programme for the Millennium (PEPAM). A European Development Fund (EDF) subsidy of CFAF 5.7 billion (EUR 8.6 million) and an EIB loan of CFAF 9.8 billion (EUR 15 million) complete the financing of SONES’s total investment programme of CFAF 38 billion (EUR 58 million). Under the project, more than 60 urban centres, including Dakar, will benefit from schemes to rehabilitate, upgrade and extend the drinking water supply network, reaching more than 500,000 people over four years. The planned works comprise the creation of 25 new boreholes, construction of a water treatment plant, extension of the supply network by more than 500 km and installation of 50,000 subsidized connections and 360 standpipes. The four finance providers involved have undertaken to harmonise their procedures, implementing the commitments made under the Paris Declaration on the harmonisation of development aid.

External links

Programme d’eau potable et assainissement pour le millénaire (PEPAM)
Sénégalaise des Eaux
Office National de l'Assainissement du Sénégal
Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie
Enda Tiers-Monde
The World Bank on private water operations in rural communities World Bank report with focus on Senegal.

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