Water supply and sanitation in Yemen

Yemen Yemen The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east.... : Water and Sanitation

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|-
!align="center" bgcolor="lightblue" colspan="3"|Data
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Water coverage (broad definition)
|valign="top"| 62% (2008)
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Sanitation coverage (broad definition)
|valign="top"| 52% (2008)
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Continuity of supply
|valign="top"| mostly not continuous
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Average urban water use (l/c/d)
|valign="top"| between 37 (in Taiz) and 94 (in Aden)
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Average urban water and sewer bill (US$/month)
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Share of household metering
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Share of collected wastewater treated
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Annual investment in WSS
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Share of self-financing by utilities
|valign="top"| low
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Share of tax-financing
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Share of external financing
|valign="top"| high
|-
!align="center" bgcolor="lightblue" colspan="3"|Institutions
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Decentralization to municipalities
|valign="top"| Yes
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|National water and sanitation company
|valign="top"| Being phased out (NWSA)
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Water and sanitation regulator
|valign="top"| Planned
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Responsibility for policy setting
|valign="top"| Ministry of Water and Environment
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Sector law
|valign="top"| Yes (2002), focused on water resources
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Number of urban service providers
|valign="top"| 15
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Number of rural service providers
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
|}

Water supply and sanitation in Yemen is characterized by a number of achievements and many remaining challenges. The main challenges are severe water scarcity, especially in the Highlands, and a high level of poverty, making it difficult to mobilize financing for investments to increase access or to fully recover the costs of service provision. Access to water supply sanitation is as low as in some Sub-Saharan African countries. Yemen is both the poorest country and the most water-scarce country in the Arab world

Arab world

The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...

. In addition, the capacity of sector institutions to plan, build, operate and maintain infrastructure remains limited. The growing scarcity of water is a problem garnering international attention, such as a headline in the Times of London in October 2009, "Yemen could become first nation to run out of water"

Despite these challenges many things improved in the sector since the mid-1990s when a wide-ranging reform process was initiated, flanked by substantial donor support. Through the reforms urban service provision was decentralized to commercially run local corporations that set their own tariffs. The utilities substantially increased tariffs, despite the political sensitivity of the topic in a poor country, and managed to increase cost recovery. Despite these increases water remains affordable with the average share of total monthly household expenditure on water and sewerage at about 1.1% of total expenditures. The average monthly expenditure on the widely used stimulant qat

Qat

Qat may refer to:* Qat , of Oceania or Melanesia* Qat, or Khat, a tropical evergreen plant whose leaves are used as a stimulant...

is about eight times the amount paid for the water and sewer bill. Between 1995 and 2008, 2.8 million people in Yemen gained access to an improved water source

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...

and 7.5 million to improved sanitation

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...

. According to a survey carried out in 2008 in 7 towns 89% of the customers of water utilities said they were satisfied with the service level of their water utility, and only 9% were dissatisfied. 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...

in urban utilities decreased from about 50% in 1999 to an estimated 28% in 2007. In Sana'a, the collection efficiency of water and sewer bills increased from 60% to 97% during the same period.

The main external donors involved in the water and sanitation sector in Yemen are Germany, the World Bank and the Netherlands. The World Bank's 2003 Water Resource Sector Strategy outlines four key strategies focusing on water resources management that are utilized in Yemen.

Access

In 2008, according to estimates by the United Nation’s Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation, only 62% of the Yemeni population had access to improved water supply – including 28% from house connections and 34% from other improved water source

Improved water source

s such as standpipes. Only 52% had access to improved sanitation

Improved sanitation

. Access to improved water supply, using a broad definition of access, is somewhat higher in urban areas than in rural areas (72% vs. 57%). The urban-rural gap is, however, much higher for adequate sanitation (94% vs. 33%). Due to rapid population growth, access to water supply actually declined in relative terms from 67% in 1995 to 62% in 2008 despite a substantial increase in absolute access. However, access to improved sanitation increased from 28% to 52% during the same period.

All these data have to be taken with a grain of salt, since there are no reliable data on access to water supply and sanitation in Yemen. For example, the data from the latest census, carried out in 1997, are very different from data in a Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) carried out in the same year. For example, according to the census, 61% or urban households had access to water connections in their home, while according to the DHS the same figure was 70%. For rural areas the order is reversed. The census gives higher figures for access to house connections (25%) than the DHS (19%). The latest data used by the United Nation are from the 2004 Family and Health Survey and the 2006 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. Estimates for 2008 are made based on an extrapolation of trends from previous years.

Service quality

Service quality for urban water supply, as measured by continuity of supply, is poor in most Yemeni cities. For example, in Taiz, the frequency of the public piped water delivery is only once about every 40 days. More and more people have to rely on more costly water provided by private wells supplying water tankers. The quality of this water is questionable because these tankers have often been used for other purposes without appropriate cleaning.

According to the Ministry of Water and Environment, 15 of 23 urban water utilities provided water every day for between 12 and 24 hours in 2007. These data do not differentiate between utilities with continuous supply and those with intermittent supply of a “moderate” sort (more than 12 hours daily water supply). The 15 cities thus include Sana’a and Aden that provide intermittent water supply. Four other towns provided water on a daily basis, but less than 12 hours per day. The city of Ibb

Ibb

Ibb is a city in Yemen, the capital of Ibb Governorate, situated on a mountain ridge, surrounded by fertile land and is known as "The Green City". It is located about 73 miles north-east of Mocha. Ibb was governed by a semi-autonomous emir until 1944, when the emirate was abolished...

and the town of Bajil provide water only once a week. And the utilities in Taiz and Mahwit provided water only less than once a week in 2007. However, there are potentially conflicting reports about the continuity of supply. For example, the Ministry reported that water was being provided on a daily basis in Amran in 2007. However, 100% of the respondents to a household survey in the same town in 2008 indicated that they received water only once a week or even once a month.

Customer satisfaction

According to a survey carried out in 2008 in 7 towns 89% of the customers of water utilities said they were satisfied with the service level of their water utility, and only 9% were dissatisfied. Even in the city of Ibb, where water supply is highly intermittent, 47% of customers declared they were satisfied. In the town of Amran, where the situation was similar, even 74% of customers were satisfied. It may be that customers have become accustomed to poor service quality and have correspondingly lowered their expectations. 77% of households said that they drank water from the tap.

Water resources

With renewable water resources of only 125 cubic meters per capita/year Yemen is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world. This level is less than one tenth of the threshold for water stress

Water stress

Researchers define water stress and water scarcity in different ways. For example, some have presented maps showing the physical existence of water in nature to show nations with lower or higher volumes of water available for use. Others have related water availability to population...

, which is defined at 1,700 cubic meters per capita/year. Total water demand of 3,400 million cubic metres per year exceeds renewable resources of 2,500 million cubic metres per year, thus leading to a steady decline in groundwater levels, varying between 1 m per year in the Tuban-Abyan area and 6–8 m per year in the Sana’a basin. Today, there are between 45,000 and 70,000 wells in Yemen, the majority of which are under private control. No one can be certain of the exact number, as almost all were drilled without license.

Agriculture takes the lion’s share of Yemen’s water resources, sucking up almost 90 percent, and it is estimated that qat production accounts for 37 percent of all water used in irrigation.

Sana'a example. Sana'a could be the first capital city in the world to run dry. Even today, many wells have to be drilled to depths of 2600 to 3900 ft (792.5 to 1,188.7 m), extremely deep by world standards. The combined output of the 125 wells operated by the state-owned Sana'a Local Corporation for Water Supply and Sanitation barely meets 35 percent of the growing city’s need. The rest is supplied either by small, privately owned networks or by hundreds of mobile tankers. In recent years, as water quality has deteriorated, privately owned kiosks that use reverse osmosis to purify poor-quality groundwater supplies have mushroomed in Sana'a and other towns. Future supply options include pumping desalinated

Desalination

Desalination, desalinization, or desalinisation refers to any of several processes that remove some amount of salt and other minerals from saline water...

water from the Red Sea over a distance of 155 miles (249.4 km), over 9000 feet (2,743.2 m) mountains into the capital, itself located at an altitude of 7226 feet (2,202.5 m). The enormous pumping cost would push the price of water up to $10 per cubic meter.

History and recent events

The urban water and sanitation sector has undergone important changes since 1995 when an urban water and sanitation reform process including decentralization, commercialization and community participation was initiated. Rural water supply and sanitation underwent similar changes since 2000.

Urban reform and decentralization

Until 2000 urban water and sewer services were provided by a national public enterprise called the National Water and Sanitation Authority (NWSA). According to a study of the reform process, before the refom tariffs were set by the national government at levels insufficient to meet operating costs, the revenues were centrally controlled, civil service salaries were too low to motivate staff; local branches were dependent on headquarters for hiring and firing staff; budgets allocated to branches were inadequate; and centralized procedures and management systems were inadequate to run the branches on a more efficient cost recovery basis.”

A World Bank-funded study, which would become the blueprint of the reform process, was conducted by John Kalbermatten during 1995-6. The study recommended that the urban water and sanitation sector should be decentralized, corporatized and commercialized through the creation of local corporations that would take over service provision from the national utility NWSA. In addition, the private sector was to take a major role in service provision and an autonomous regulatory agency was to be created. This became national policy in 1997.

A small branch of the national utility NWSA in the Al Bayda' Governorate

Al Bayda' Governorate

Al Bayda , also spelt Al-Baidhah or Beida, is one of the 19 governorates of Yemen. It is located near the centre of the country, around the town of Al Bayda'.Its population, according to the 2004 Yemeni census, was 571,778....

was selected to be a pilot to test the decentralized, commercial approach. The principles on which the reform were based became known by the name of this town as the Rada'a principles which have guided the reform process ever since. They are as follows:

The Branch will operate independently of NWSA Head Office while remaining accountable to NWSA on regulatory matters and to the Minister of Electricity and Water on policy issues.
The Branch will be accountable to the community it serves through a Local Advisory Committee which will monitor and review the Branch’s activities.
The Branch will set its own local tariff and billing system, and retain revenues in its own bank accounts, while paying an overhead contribution for regulatory services.
The Branch will appoint its own staff, except for the three main management posts which will be via Ministerial resolution on agreed criteria.
The Branch will apply a staff incentive scheme based on actual performance to supplement staff remuneration according to civil service standards.
The Branch will prepare monthly operational reports and quarterly and annual statements of account
The Branch will have its accounts audited by a private auditor.

The first local corporation was created in the Sana'a

Sana'a

-Districts:*Al Wahdah District*As Sabain District*Assafi'yah District*At Tahrir District*Ath'thaorah District*Az'zal District*Bani Al Harith District*Ma'ain District*Old City District*Shu'aub District-Old City:...

region in February 2000, followed by Aden

Aden

Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...

in the same year. Five more local corporations were established in 2001 in Taiz, Hodeida, Ibb

Ibb

, Wadi Hadramaut and Al-Mukalla. Two more (Hajjah

Hajjah

Hajjah is the capital city of Hajjah Governorate in northwestern Yemen. It is located 127 kilometres northwest of Sana'a, at an elevation of about 1800 metres. As of 2003, the Hajjah City District had a population of 53,887 inhabitants....

and
Al-Bayda'

Al Bayda', Yemen

Al Bayda, also transliterated as Al-Baidhah or Beida , not to be mixed with al-Bayda' in al-Jawf, the ancient Nashqum) is a town in central Yemen, in the Governorate of Al Bayda'. It is located 130 miles SE of Sanaa, at ....

) were established in 2005, four (Sadah, Abyan,
Lahj and Dhamar

Dhamar, Yemen

Dhamar is a city in southwestern Yemen. It is located at , at an elevation of around 2400 metres.-Overview:Dhamar is situated 100 km to the south of Sana'a, north of Ibb, and west of Al-Beidha, 2700 m above sea level. Its name “Dhamar” goes back to the king of Sheba and Dou-Reddan at 15-35 AD...

) in 2006, and 2 further (Amran and Ad Dali'

Ad Dali'

Ad Dali is a capital town of Ad Dali' Governorate, southwestern Yemen. It is located at around , in the elevation of around 1500 metres....

) in 2008. As of 2009 more than 95% of urban areas were served by 15 local corporations.

According to the newspaper Yemen Observer “the process of decentralization was not smooth; it faced strong resistance from the central organization. Sustainable political will and endorsement of the local administration law helped to overcome these obstacles.” The Local Administration Law No. 4 was passed in 2000.

Rural reform

Concerning rural water supply and sanitation, in a Cabinet Decree (Decree #21 of November 22, 2000) the government ratified a Policy Statement, emphasizing the principles demand-responsiveness, decentralized community-based management and cost recovery. The General Authority for Rural Electricity and Water (GAREW) was responsible for promoting rural water supply and electrification at that time. In 2003 GAREW was also separated along sector lines and the GARWSP created for water supply.

New water law and creation of the Ministry of Water and Environment

In 2002 a new water law was passed, focusing on water resources management. The law did not cover water supply and sanitation infrastructure, but provided a framework to preserve water resources that are essential for the sustainability of water services.
In 2003 the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) was created, taking over responsibility for water supply and sanitation from the former the Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW). This was seen a sign of political commitment to tackle the challenges Yemen faces in the water sector. Also in 2003, a Performance Indicators Information System (PIIS) was introduced by the Ministry of Water and Environment to monitor and evaluate the performance of the urban water and sanitation service providers at the local and national levels.

National Water Sector Strategy and Investment Program

A major step forward for the sector was the adoption of a National Water Sector Strategy and Investment Program in 2005. One important result has been closer cooperation between the Ministries of Water and Agriculture, as well as between donors. Through the process of joint annual reviews these ministries, their agencies and donors evaluate progress. A regulation study was completed in 2006 and on its basis a draft law to establish an independent regulatory agency is awaiting approval.

National water conservation campaign

In 2008 NWRA launched a national water conservation campaign in partnership with the German development organisation GTZ and the United Nations Development Programme

United Nations Development Programme

The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to...

. The campaign's figurehead is a cartoon character in the shape of a raindrop. His name - Rowyan - means "I've had enough water" in Arabic.

Policy and regulation

The MWE is in charge of formulating water policies in Yemen. In the field of water supply and sanitation it is supported by a Technical Secretariat (TS) for Water Sector Reform. The government envisages to create an autonomous regulatory agency for the water and sanitation sector. Three water sector agencies currently report to the Ministry: The National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) for water resources management, the National Water and Sewerage Authority (NWSA) for urban water supply, and the General Authority for Rural Water Supply (GARWSP) for rural water supply.

NWSA provides technical assistance, establishes sector standards, organizes and implements training programs and establishes data bases for all local corporations until the establishment of a regulatory agency. In addition, it still provides water and sewer services in some urban areas. NWRA has the mission to manage the nation’s water resources on a sustainable basis, to ensure satisfaction of basic water needs by all but especially by the poor, and to establish a system of water allocation that is fair, yet flexible for meeting varying needs of economically and demographically dynamic sectors. NWRA has branches in Sana’a, Taiz, Sa'dah

Sa'dah

Sa`dah is the capital city of Saada Governorate in north-western Yemen. It is located at , at an elevation of about 1,800 meters. Known in antiquity as Karna, its population in 2004 was estimated at 51,870.- External links :*...

, Aden

Aden

, Hadramaut and Hodeida. GARWSP provides support to water user associations in rural areas.

Urban areas

As of October 2008, 15 Local Corporations (LCs), 13 autonomous public utilities, as well as 16 local branches of NWSA provide services in urban areas.

Local corporations provide services in the largest cities of the country: Aden

Aden

, Al-Hodeidah, Ibb

Ibb

, Al-Mukalla, Sana'a

Sana'a

and Taiz. They also provide services in 9 towns: Abyan, Amran, Al-Bayda'

Al Bayda', Yemen

, Ad Dali'

Ad Dali'

Ad Dali is a capital town of Ad Dali' Governorate, southwestern Yemen. It is located at around , in the elevation of around 1500 metres....

, Dhamar

Dhamar, Yemen

, Hajjah

Hajjah

, Lahj, Sadah and Wadi Hadramaut. They thus serve the great majority of the urban population of Yemen. 15 of the 21 governorates of Yemen

Governorates of Yemen

|Yemen is divided into 21 governorates :The governorates are subdivided into 333 districts , which are subdivided into 2,210 sub-districts, and then into 38,284 villages ....

have a LC and the objective is to have one LC per governorate.

Autonomous public utilities are typically affiliated to the local corporation in their governorate. They are cost centers within the LC. For example, the autonmous utility in Bait al-Faqih reports to the local corporation in Hodeidah, and the autonomous utility in Rada'a, where the reform process had been piloted, reports to the local corporation in Al/Bayda'. Two of the 15 autonomous utilities are still affiliated to NWSA. These two utilities - in Ataq

Ataq

Ataq , alternately spelled Attaq, is a small city and the capital of Shabwah Governorate in Yemen. Ataq is 458 km south east of Sana'a. The difference in elevation of the city is about 70 m with generally partially flat topography with altitudinal variation in the range of 1120–1190 m.a.s.l....

, the capital of Shabwah Governorate

Shabwah Governorate

Shabwah is a governorate of Yemen. Its main town is Ataq.-Districts:*Ain District*Al Talh District*Ar Rawdah District*Arma District*As Said District*Ataq District*Bayhan District*Dhar District*Habban District*Hatib District...

, and in Al Mahwit

Al Mahwit

Al Mahwit is a capital city of Al Mahwit Governorate, Yemen. It is located at around , at an elevation of about 2000 metres....

- are located in governorates where there is no local corporation yet. They are in an intermediate state before becoming LCs. The Rada’a Principles apply to all autonomous public utilities.

The local branches of NWSA include the smaller capital cities of governorates where there is neither a local corporation nor an autonomous utility yet. They include Ma'rib

Ma'rib

Ma'rib or Marib is the capital town of the Ma'rib Governorate, Yemen and was the capital of the Sabaean kingdom, which some scholars believe to be the ancient Sheba of biblical fame. It is located at , approximately 120 kilometers east of Yemen's modern capital, Sana'a...

, Al Jawf

Al Jawf

Al Jawf may refer to:* Al Jawf, Saudi Arabia, a city known in Saudi Arabia for its major prison* Al Jawf Province, a province of Saudi Arabia* Al Jawf Governorate, a governorate of Yemen* Al Jawf, Libya, a city and municipality in Libya...

and Al Mahrah as well as the newly created governorate Raymah

Raymah

Raymah is a village in western central Yemen. It is located in the San‘a’ Governorate.-External links:*...

. It is estimated that less than 5% of the urban population of Yemen live in the 16 local branches that remain with NWSA.

Rural areas

Services in rural areas are provided by thousands of community-based water committees. According to a 2000 World Bank report, at that time communities were insufficiently involved in water system design and government and donor-supported schemes usually fell short of developing effective community construction and management mechanisms. Water committees were imposed local institutions, often suffering from internal management conflicts, leading to negligence of operation and maintenance which resulted in frequent break-downs. More than 50 percent of systems were broken down. Systems were often over-designed, and users can not afford paying the full cost of operating the schemes, let alone producing an operating surplus

Operating surplus

Operating surplus is an accounting concept used in national accounts statistics Operating surplus is an accounting concept used in national accounts statistics Operating surplus is an accounting concept used in national accounts statistics (such as United Nations System of National Accounts (UNSNA)...

for the purchase of spare parts and major repairs. In addition, political and tribal leaders frequently demanded that the government allocates its resources to particular projects, thereby interrupting - even abandoning - the work of started schemes. According to a 1996 Review, there were several hundreds of incomplete projects at that time. Little was done in the area of hygiene education, safe drinking water storage, and wastewater and excreta disposal.

Most of the projects require some 'contribution' of the beneficiaries, for example, an up-front down-payment towards investment costs (varying between 5 percent and 30 percent).

In 2007 the World Bank reported that “a Demand Responsive Approach (DRA) has been mainstreamed into all sub-sector interventions throughout the country and is used in all governorates.” Furthermore, a rural water strategy has been finalized, agreed upon by all stakeholders and awaited cabinet approval in early 2008.

Efficiency

In 2001 in urban water systems non-revenue water

Non-revenue water

was estimated to be around 50 percent and the number of staff per 1,000 connections was typically over 10. All utilities suffer from overstaffing, but continue to recruit staff. In 2007, the number of staff per 1,000 connections still varied between 5 and 20, while a level of less than five is considered as typical for an efficient utility. These figures for non-revenue water seem to have improved, however, over subsequent years. In 2007 reported figures for non-revenue water varied between 10% and 55%. The figures at the lower end of the range are from very small utilities. Among the larger utilities the lowest level is achieved in Ibb with 20% and the highest in Hodeidah with 43%. The authors of the report caution that the data quality may be poor. According to the joint annual review of the water and sanitation sector for 2007, average non-revenue water was down to 28% and collection efficiency has risen to 92%. In Sana'a non-revenue water declined from about 50% in 1999 to an estimated 38% in 2007. Collection efficiency increased from 60% to 97%.

Urban areas

Cost recovery. The accepted norm for cost recovery in urban water supply and sanitation in Yemen is for the tariff to be set such that the operation and maintenance costs are recovered at the least, with the government and donors financing investments. However, in some cases, such as Sana’a, credits by international donors are on-lent to the utility. A few utilities have been able to achieve full cost recovery. One example is the small town Bait al Faqih which has a new system and low losses, indicating a functional and efficient network, and no inherited staff and thus no overstaffing.

Tariff structure. Municipal water tariffs in Yemen are differentiated based on three customer categories: domestic users pay the least, while commercial users as well as government entities pay more. All utilities use increasing-block tariffs, with the lowest block covering a consumption between 5 and 10 cubic meters per month and connection.

Tariff adjustments. The government has shown a willingness to raise tariffs, having done so in 1995, 1998, 1999 and 2001. Further increases have been undertaken subsequently by local corporations. From 1995-2001 the monthly bill increased over 350% for a domestic customer consuming 15 m³/month, and the industrial tariff increased over 150 percent per m3.

Affordability. The share of the water bill for 5 cubic meter per month and household was between 0.5% and 1.1% of income of poor households for the 11 largest utilities in 2007. The share of the sewer bill was between zero and 0.7%. Water and sewer bills were thus highly affordable. The highest combined share of water and sewer bill was found in Sana'a with 1,6%. The average share of total monthly household expenditure on water and sewerage is about 1.1%, which amounts to about YR 1,363, while the average monthly expenditure on qat is about eight times (YR 10,888) the amount paid for water, according to the household budget survey (2005-2006).

Rural areas

In 2000 the majority of rural water systems used some form of cost-recovery, either based on metered water use, or a flat rate.

External cooperation

The main donors for the water and sanitation sector are 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 German Development Bank KfW

KFW

KFW may refer to:*Keith Fullerton Whitman , an American musician*KfW or Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, a German public-sector financial institution...

, the German Technical Cooperation agency (GTZ) and the Netherlands. Other important donors include Japan, UNDP, DFID and the European Union. All donor activities are coordinated under a Sector-Wide Approach

Sector-Wide Approach

Sector-Wide Approach is an approach to international development that "brings together governments, donors and other stakeholders within any sector. It is characterized by a set of operating principles rather than a specific package of policies or activities...

(SWAp).

World Bank

An Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Program Project supported by a US$ 150m 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...

credit, approved in August 2002, aims at efficient and sustainable water and sanitation services in major urban areas. Their project has three components. The first rehabilitates and expands the water supply and sanitation infrastructure. The second component supports institutional restructuring and improving managerial capacities of local corporations; and to put in place an appropriate structure for a regulatory body for the urban water and sanitation sector in Yemen. A Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project – with US$ 20m approved in December 2000 and additional financing of US$ 20m approved in January 2008 - aims to expand sustainable rural water supply and sanitation service coverage to mostly poor rural dwellers in ten governorates. Until 2007 140 water sub-projects serving a population of 320,000 were completed. In addition, three consecutive Social Fund

Social fund

A social fund is an institution, typically in a developing country, that provides financing for small-scale public investments targeted at meeting the needs of poor and vulnerable communities...

for Development Projects financed partly by the World Bank allocated an estimated 15% for rural water supply and sanitation.

Germany

Germany has played an important role in the implementation of urban water and sanitation reforms in Yemen since the mid-1990s, including through the support provided by GTZ to the technical secretariat in the Ministry in charge of the sector. GTZ supports the water and sanitation sector through a Euro 23m program for the Institutional Development of the Water Sector over the period 1994-2009. The program supports the decentralization reforms, strengthens local corporations, and establishes water basin committees and water resources management plans through training provided by NWSA and NWRA.

On behalf of the German government KfW

KFW

KFW may refer to:*Keith Fullerton Whitman , an American musician*KfW or Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, a German public-sector financial institution...

development bank provides financing for water and sanitation investments in the city of Aden

Aden

as well as in the towns of Al Shehr/Al Hami in Mukallah governorate, Mokha, Yarim

Yarim

-Geography:It lies in the heart of the Yemen Highlands, on an upland plateau dominated by the massif of nearby Mount Sumarah, which rises to about 10,000 feet above sea level.-History:...

, Amran, Sa'dah

Sa'dah

, Zabid

Zabid

Zabid is a town with an urban population of around 23,000 persons on Yemen's western coastal plain. The town, named after Wadi Zabid, the wadi to its south, is one of the oldest towns in Yemen...

, Bajil, Mansouria and Beit al-Faqih, the latter four being located in the Al Hudaydah Governorate

Al Hudaydah Governorate

Al Hudaydah is a governorate of Yemen. Its capital is Al Hudaydah.This governorate borders the Red Sea and is part of the narrow Tihamah region...

. An evaluation of an earlier project for the renewal and expansion of drinking water supply systems in eight provincial towns in Yemen (Bajil, Bait al Faqih, Al Mansouria, Zabid, Mokha, Amran, Yarim

Yarim

-Geography:It lies in the heart of the Yemen Highlands, on an upland plateau dominated by the massif of nearby Mount Sumarah, which rises to about 10,000 feet above sea level.-History:...

und Hajjah

Hajjah

), and sanitation measures in three towns (Hajjah, Amran and Yarim) showed that the project largely achieved its objectives related to water supply. The quality of the construction work was rated as high and the collection of bills was considered to be "efficient". However, in Yarim the objective was not achieved due to water shortages. Only "modest improvements" were achieved regarding waste water disposal. Another project to reduce water losses in Taiz and Mukalla was considered a partial failure: On the positive side, the evaluation showed that losses in the rehabilitated areas were reduced significantly. In Mukalla, where 40% of the network was rehabilitated, they were reduced from 22% to 8%. In Taiz, where only 12% of the network was rehabilitated, they fell from 45% to 6%. However, overall losses in the cities remained high at 30% in Mukalla and 47% in Taiz, because only parts of the network were rehabilitated. The cost of the measures was higher than expected due to the poorer than expected state of the network. KfW is now in the process of applying robust, quantitative-based evaluation methods to more accurately assess the health impact of the interventions it supported in Yemeni towns based. This will be done through surveys including both beneficiaries and a control group.

Netherlands

The Netherlands have a long development assistance history in the Water Sector of Yemen (since 1978). Considerable amounts of funds have been used for urban and rural infrastructure projects in water and sanitation, irrigation, water resources assessment and management, but also for capacity development and organisational and institutional strengthening as well as Water Sector Reform.

Until the late nineties the assistance mainly consisted of projects, the slowly shifting to a program approach. Between 2006 and 2009, around € 5 million per year is available for the water sector. Rural Water Supply and Water Resources Management will continue to be the main areas to which funds will be made available.

In February 2006 the Netherlands Minister for Development Cooperation at the time, during her visit to Yemen, signed a Public- Private-Partnership (PPP) declaration between three partners: 1) the Ta’iz Water Supply and Sanitation Local Corporation; 2) Vitens N.V. the largest drinking water supply company in the Netherlands; and 3) the Netherlands Ministry for Development Cooperation. The PPP will implement a 3-year utility support program to improve the management and service delivery of the Ta’iz corporation. The PPP implementation costs a total amount of € 1.5 million.

Japan

JICA focuses its cooperation on rural water supply, building and rehabilitating water supply facilities in 20 remote villages in five governorates, including Sana'a, Ibb and Taiz.

External links

Caton, Steven C.:Anthropology, Harvard University: Yemen, Water and the Politics of Knowledge, 2007
Yemeni-German Technical Cooperation - Water Sector Program
Sustaining Water for All in a Changing Climate - The World Bank, 2010, Special case study on water resources in Yemen, pgs. 87-90.

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