The delegation with representation from different ministries and institutions among others, Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development, State Water Board, House of Assembly, Ministry of Justice, Office of Head of Service, Sustainable Water and Sanitation in Africa (SUWASA) and USAID were in the country to learn how Zambia has reformed its water and sanitation sub-sector.

Zambia is one of the leading countries on the African continent in  the reformation of the water sector.

The institutions visited by the Nigerian delegation whilst in Zambia included the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Water Development, Ministry of Local government and housing, National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO), the Devolution Trust Fund (DTF) and Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company.

Other places visited were Kanyama and Chongwe to appreciate  the prepaid water  kiosks and the newly constructed modular water treatment plant respectively.

In its quest to reform the water sub-sector, Bauchi state with a population of 5.4 million people envisions to align operational activities of its water board to the outcomes of the national strategy on improving access to water and sanitation including Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation.

Unlike Zambia which has an autonomous water and sanitation Regulator, Bauchi state’s Water policy is currently not supported with a regulatory arm independent of the state and the water board has not been given financial, management and operational autonomy.

With identified key challenges and issues of service delivery from different perspectives including policy, institutional, legal, funding as well as operations, it is hoped that the learning visit would assist as  Bauchi State embarks on reforming its  water and sanitation subsector.

Speaking in Kabwe on the 30^th of March 2012, at the Water  Sector Financial Forum under the theme  “Operational and Financial Efficiency; a key to performance improvement,” ACC Director General Rosewin Wandi observed that poorly governed operations and finances in institutions are liabilities which lead to corruption and other criminal activities.

Ms Wandi said poorly designed financial regulations or lack of adherence to financial regulations can expose the financial systems of water utility companies to crisis and collapse.

“Corruption negatively affects operational and financial efficiency because of its negative effects, apart from increasing the cost of doing business; corruption enriches a few individuals while the majority of the citizens remain wallowing in abject poverty”.

She said areas of operation in the water sector  that are prone to corruption include, water quality compliance, revenue collection, meter reading, connection, disconnection and reconnection of water supply, inspections and procurement of goods and services by water utility companies.

Ms Wandi called on the water sector to inculcate principles of integrity and accountability which promote operational and financial efficiency leading to performance improvements.

She further implored the water sector to enhance efforts in empowering communities with knowledge on their water rights and sanitation responsibilities to enable citizens  report any suspected or acts of corruption or abuse of public office to the ACC.

The ACC Director General noted that under the anti- corruption ACT No. 38 of 2010, corruption is defined as the soliciting, accepting, obtaining, giving, promising, or offering of a gratification by way of a bribe or other personal temptation or inducement.

Ms Wandi said that it is now a requirement under the Act for public bodies to keep a register of gifts such that employees should be made to declare gifts and a system for determining how gifts are disposed off.

And Ms Wandi noted that the Anti Corruption Commission realizes the great importance of the water supply and sanitation sector to the lives of the general public because water and sanitation mean life to all citizens.

She commended the efforts that the water sector is making to reduce the likelihood of the occurrence of corrupt practices and eradicating corruption in the water sector.

With recommendations from the Financial Forum, a sector guideline will now be formulated by the National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO) which will see the formation of integrity committees in all water utility companies to counter corrupt practices.

The Water Sector Financial Forum organized by NWASCO  drew fourty(40) participants from all the eleven water utility companies.

A common man on the streets of Lusaka most probably has been bombarded with a numerous commemoration and may not bother much about this commemoration but is only interested in receiving quality water at every moment he needs to use it. This reminds me of some people who opt to buy bottled water for drinking yet use tap water to brush their teeth, wash their food and household chores. This actually gets me thinking why consumers more often than not have a vote of no confidence in the quality of our water.

The National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO) observes that quality water is key to the attainment of food security. This observation comes in the wake of commemorating World Water Day with a full realization that Water is Life and Sanitation is dignity.  Provision of quality water in adequate quantities and at  affordable prices enables any country to be productive thereby attaining food security.Water quality has an impact on both the public health and visual value of water as a consumable product therefore provision of quality water with World Health Organisation (WHO) standards is key to food security.

Compliance to water quality is one of the key indicators of water providers who are mandated by law to provide safe and clean water. NWASCO monitors these providers on a regular basis through routine and spot inspections to ensure that the water supplied is safe and of acceptable quality. Inspections of water providers are conducted by a qualified team of inspectors with expertise in various fields. Members of the public who reside in different localities across the country and are part of water watch groups also provide feedback on the quality of service.

Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) service providers are required to have an adequate water-testing programme for quality control and must ensure that a certain number of tests such as bacteriological and chlorine residual are carried out. Further, the test results must conform to national drinking water standards.

Three types of tests are carried out namely Physio-chemical, Bacteriological tests and Metal analyses. One of the Physio chemical test emphasized is the Residual chlorine test  as it seeks to determine the amount of free chlorine in the water supply system to take care of any contamination that may occur.  Other Physio-chemical tests concentrate on Colour, pH and Turbidity. Bacteriological tests detect the presence of bacteria (total and faecal coliforms) in the water which may cause diarrheal diseases. Presence of heavy metal tests are also conducted especially in areas of mining activities.

NWASCO’s role is to ensure that a specified acceptable minimum standard of practice is followed by every water supply and sanitation provider. Experience has shown that without clear directives through guidelines, some water supply and sanitation providers fail to conduct requisite water sampling and tests which inturn poses a threat to public health.

It is against this background that NWASCO has developed and issued the Water Quality Monitoring Guideline to all providers with the purpose of:

• Promoting  transparency in the methods of water quality monitoring employed by the utilities and thus build public confidence in the system.
• Ensuring through regular monitoring that the quality standards set by Zambia Bureau of Standards are being complied with.
• Creating  awareness among the water supply and sanitation service providers on the water quality monitoring requirements.
• Ensuring that all water utilities follow a systematic way of water quality monitoring so as to have uniformity of the process.
• Ensuring a minimum standard of water quality monitoring at justifiable cost.

The guideline contains information on establishing the minimum number of samples to be taken, water quality parameters to be sampled, recording and reporting/ publication of results.

The profile of water quality needs to be raised by all stakeholders- Government, organizations, civil society, communities and individuals due to the health impact unsafe water has on the social economic development of the country as a result of a water borne diseases and loss of man hours in search of clean water among others. Water quality is critical in regulating provision of water supply and as such providers are now required by NWASCO to publish water quality results which consumers should look out for every quarter at the designated places at pay points.

Once consumers know how their provider is doing with water quality they will then be armed with facts on the  quality of service they are subjected to for corrective action.