The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) in
2013 mooted the idea of introducing prepaid water meters in the city, with
Cowdray Park’s Hlalani Kuhle area set to serve as a pilot for the project. The
decision was made without consulting residents. Privatizing water is therefore not
a priority of ordinary residents, but an imposition by bureaucrats in the local
authority. The move also endangers the rights of residents to access water by
privatizing the precious liquid.
1. Prepaid Meters Equate to Privatization
Use of prepaid meters essentially
converts a public good to a private good, with the water supplier set to reap
profits at the expense of the public. The system prioritizes revenue streams to
the local authority at the expense of access to water by the residents of
Bulawayo.
2. Prepaid Meters Pervert Demand Management
Prepaid meters facilitate
effective demand management in a cruel manner: when you are unable to afford
the charge you are simply cut off. Studies have shown that water meters have
reduced the demand for water by up to 65% leaving poor people with minimum
water for their daily consumption, effectively forcing them to use less water
than they actually require. This comes with the risk of diseases such as
cholera as poor families are forced to use polluted water.
3. Prepaid Meters Remove Procedural Protections and Consumer
Safeguards
Prepaid meters disturb the social
contract between residents and the local authority that provides water. Instead
of communicating with BCC, residents will be limited to interactions with their
meters. As such, there is no dispute mechanism for instances when meters are
faulty while there is no recourse in the event units run out. Once units run
out, residents find themselves without water, they can’t lodge complaints. All
they can do to get water is buy the requisite units.
4. Prepaid Water Meters Exacerbate Emergencies
In the event of a fire, a lot of
water is needed to put it out – but with prepaid meters, households are likely
to find themselves cut off during extinguishing of the fire. The prepaid meter
does not understand emergencies. With no fire hydrants, if a fire happens at
night one is unable to buy additional water at the store.
5. Prepaid Meters Undermine Public Health
Prepaid meters force poor
families to reduce their water consumption to levels below the amount
recommended daily by the World Health Organisation (WHO). According to studies
this leads to higher chances of outbreaks of diseases such as dysentery and
cholera. The poor are the worst affected as they cannot afford to purchase the
required units.
6. Prepaid Meters are More Expensive
Prepaid meters are sold as a
high-tech solution and come at a higher price than traditional water meters. It
is thus imprudent to introduce prepaid meters in poor countries such as
Zimbabwe that suffer from high unemployment and low remuneration.
7. Prepaid Meters Increase Conflicts in Communities
Communities traditionally share
the burden of providing access to water for all. With prepaid meter however
water becomes an individualised marketed commodity and social relations erode
when families run out of water as desperation would lead to families ‘stealing’
water from each other. Conflicts over borrowed water that was not returned
could also occur.
8. Prepaid Meters Magnify Inequality and Poverty
Prepaid meters lead to water, a
basic commodity, becoming a commodity for the privileged and wealthy while the
poor fail to access it in the required quantities. This magnifies inequalities
in communities and makes life more difficult for the poor.
9. Prepaid Meters Violate the Right to Water
Use of prepaid meters denies the
poor their right to access water as enshrined in the United Nation’s
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Pre-paid meters
force poor families to use unsafe water sources as they cannot afford to
purchase adequate units of water.
10. Prepaid Water Meters Exacerbate Gender Inequality
When families find themselves
unable to pay for prepaid water services, they are forced to use alternative
sources of water. This forces women and children backward into the traditional
role as water carriers and undermines educational and gender equality gains
that can be reached through simple improvements in water supply.
11. Prepaid Water Meters Abuse Willingness to Pay Against Ability
to pay
The World Bank and private
companies justify prepaid water meters and state that even poor households are
willing to pay increasing tariffs for access to clean water. Aside from
addressing the wrong problem, pre-paid water meters do not make access to water
cheaper for the poor. This argument abuses the fact that all human beings need
water for basic survival. Instead, the ability to pay should be analyzed.
No comments:
Post a Comment