More than half of the people who live in Bogodogo, one of five metropolitan areas of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, say that the cost of water is not affordable, a survey by WaterAid shows. Nor is this just an opinion – since in fact six out of ten people lack access to decent water services.
Published on: 21/08/2007
Two years ago WaterAid started a project to support local governments to build water points in Burkina Faso. Local water committees, with help from WaterAid, liaise with water distributors and the community to guarantee the service. However, the primary objective of providing water for the poor at affordable prices cannot be fully achieved. The price of a cubic metre of water at the standposts in Bogodogo is 1.6 times higher than the price at one of the standposts provided by the water utility ONEA (Office National de l’Eau et de l’Assainissement).
In fact households that live a long way from the standposts may pay six times the price, as they rely on private water vendors to bring water from the water point on their push carts.
There are no regulations setting maximum prices for water and electricity in Burkina Faso and, as a result, prices vary enormously. The President of the local water committee admitted: “The prices vary enormously. These houses there could pay 200 CFA while others a bit further 300. The distance makes the price higher.”
A number of factors push prices even higher, such as time it takes the vendors to fill their containers and pull the water carts, and the availability of water. The water has a high price at the collection point and a much higher price by the time it gets to the households. But even though more than 50 % of households told WaterAid that the water is not affordable, they have no other choice.
Until now, official policy dictated that the location of water points had to be at the boundary of planned and unplanned settlements. Fortunately, that policy has now been lifted and WaterAid hopes to locate water points within the two kilometre stretch of unplanned settlements. This will improve access and help to force down the price of water.
In Bogodogo, 421,000 inhabitants live on 11,000 hectares of land, just under half of which is urban while the greater part is rural. Half of the population of Bogodogo live in extreme poverty with an annual income of less than 15,000 CFA F (EUR 23) and are totally dependent on others to meet their basic needs. The constituency is run by a mayor supported by a Secretary General; a first and a second deputy mayor; and two Commissions (General and Institutional Affairs, and Financial and Economic).
Another problem is the low coverage in household latrines in Bogodogo. A few households own latrines in these villages, supported by a WaterAid project two years ago. However, there is a high level of defecation in open places next to the home.
Lack of drainage means that when it rains, it is impossible for children to go to school or to access even basic necessities.
Many local initiatives have tried to address these problems, but failed because of lack of financial resources. The municipality cannot provide support, as it is not financially independent and cannot prioritise local investment. More coordinated efforts and investments are needed to address this problem.
At present, the municipality is at the mercy of the national government, in the absence of good selection criteria for allocating resources to solve major problems identified by the community.
Mme Drabo Zoénabou, mayor of Bogodogo, says: “Decentralisation works in Burkina only in theory or in reports”. She adds: “Allow us at least for a year to run our own budget.” Mme Drabo has just been elected to the national parliament as an MP. Bogodogo hopes that she can use her new office to improve decentralisation by matching resources for communes to their responsibilities.
Caridad Machín Camacho, e-mail
You can watch a short video (in French and English) of members of the local water committee talking about the water situation in Bogodogo on YouTube.
