66 The Future of Water in African Cities
included. This might indicate that these cities face no scarcity issues or other reasons to consider wastewater reuse, or it might reflect a lack of awareness. Although most cities and utilities include informal settlements in their current plans, more than 20 percent of the cities in the sample moderately disagree with the inclusion of water supply to informal settlements in future urban plans. There is a wider range of actors involved in overall urban water management planning than in the water management planning done by a utility (see Figure 3.2). The current level of citizen and end user involvement is low (20 percent of responses) and advocacy will be needed to increase end user involvement. City leaders and water operators agree that emphasizing the importance of institutional structures and political will should help achieve better urban water management. City and utility leaders have also stressed the necessity of creating more institutional cooperation and developing institutional frameworks to help meet future planning challenges. However, these institutional arrangements have to be specific and fit in with the local and national governance structures. In some cases, decentralization practices or regulation laws might affect urban water management practices. In Dakar, for example, the municipality finds that incorporating additional water network maintenance responsibilities into the city’s urban plan is difficult due to decentralization laws and the division of responsibilities between the national and local government. Figure 3.2 Involved Parties in the Consultation Process of Urban Water Management: From the Municipality (Left) and Utility (Right) Viewpoints City's planning department
Other
100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%
Municipal council
Other
25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%
Municipal council
Water operator
Consumers/users associations Utilities regulator Municipality Source: World Bank.
City's planning department
Consumers/users associations Water operator
Utilities regulator