Water supply and sanitation in Haiti
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''This article has been written in 2007, with partial updates in later years including most recently in May 2013. Please update it further. Please also see the French version of the article for further details.''
Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
faces key challenges in the
water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...
and
sanitation Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems ...
sector: Notably, access to public services is very low, their quality is inadequate and public institutions remain very weak despite foreign aid and the government's declared intent to strengthen the sector's institutions. Foreign and Haitian NGOs play an important role in the sector, especially in rural and urban slum areas.


Access

Haiti's coverage levels in urban and rural areas are the lowest in the hemisphere for both water supply and sanitation. Sewer systems and
wastewater treatment Wastewater treatment is a process used to remove contaminants from wastewater and convert it into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle. Once returned to the water cycle, the effluent creates an acceptable impact on the environme ...
are nonexistent. ''Source'':
Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation by WHO and UNICEF is the official United Nations mechanism tasked with monitoring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal Number 6 (SDG 6) since 2016. Previously, u ...
of WHO/
UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...
In rural areas those without access to an improved water source got their drinking water primarily from unprotected wells (5%), unprotected springs (37%) and rivers (8%). In urban areas those without access to an improved source got their drinking water primarily from "bottled water" (20%), from carts with drums (4%) and unprotected wells (3%). Water in bottles or in small plastic bags is treated, bottled and sold by local private companies, often using
reverse osmosis Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to separate ions, unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic pre ...
for treatment. Bottled water is also imported, especially in the aftermath of disasters such as the 2010 earthquake. Those without access to
improved sanitation Improved sanitation (related to but distinct from a " safely managed sanitation service") is a term used to categorize types of sanitation for monitoring purposes. It refers to the management of human feces at the household level. The term was co ...
either used shared latrines or defecate in the open. According to the
Demographic and Health Survey The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program is responsible for collecting and disseminating accurate, nationally representative data on health and population in developing countries. The project is implemented by ICF International and is funded ...
of 2006, 10% of those living in urban areas and 50% of those living in rural areas defecated in the open.


Service quality

Coverage figures do not give an indication of
service quality Service quality (SQ), in its contemporary conceptualisation, is a comparison of perceived expectations (E) of a service with perceived performance (P), giving rise to the equation SQ=P-E. This conceptualistion of service quality has its origins in ...
, which is generally quite poor. In rural areas, systems have often fallen into disrepair. They either do not provide any water service at all or provide service only to those close to the source, with those at the end of the system ("tail-enders") remaining without water. In almost all urban areas water supply is intermittent.


History and recent developments

In 1964 the government of
François Duvalier François Duvalier (; 14 April 190721 April 1971), also known as Papa Doc, was a Haitian politician of French Martiniquan descent who served as the President of Haiti from 1957 to 1971. He was elected president in the 1957 general election on ...
created CAMEP, the ''Centrale Autonome Métropolitaine d'Eau Potable'', responsible for the
Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...
metropolitan area. Subsequently, in 1977 the government of his son
Jean-Claude Duvalier Jean-Claude Duvalier (; 3 July 19514 October 2014), nicknamed "Baby Doc" ( ht, Bebe Dòk), was a Haitian politician who was the President of Haiti from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in February 1986. He succeeded his father F ...
created SNEP (''Service National d'Eau Potable'') to be in charge of water supply in the rest of the country. Shortly afterwards a rural water and hygiene unit called POCHEP after its French acronym was created in the Ministry of Health, since SNEP was focusing on secondary towns and did not have the ability to serve rural areas. All three entities struggled to increase coverage at the desired pace and to provide adequate levels of service quality. Nevertheless, the 1980s witnessed a certain increase of coverage as part of the International Water and Sanitation Decade, supported by numerous donors including the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
and the IDB as well as by numerous NGOs. The 1990s witnessed a series of setbacks for the country and consequently for the water and sanitation sector as well. After a 1991 military coup foreign aid was suspended for three years. Aid began to flow in again after the return of
Jean-Bertrand Aristide Jean-Bertrand Aristide (born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in ...
in 1994, a period which witnessed the emergence of water committees in Port-au-Prince. These community organizations sell water to slum dwellers at a small profit, which is reinvested in small-scale community infrastructure such as sports facilities or sanitary facilities. The water is bought from the utility, for which the water committees are one of their best-paying customers. In the late 1990s aid began to dry up again, which in turn again affected the performance of the sector and condemned a large share of the population to be without adequate services. External aid picked up again after the departure of Aristide in 2004 under a transition government and the second government of René Préval. The external assistance is particularly focused at towns in the interior of the country and on rural areas, while the staggering problem of supplying the metropolitan area of the capital with sufficient clean water and a sewer system remains unresolved. The Preval government has engaged in a reform of the water sector by establishing a national directorate for water and sanitation and regional service providers through a framework law passed in 2009. The law aims at strengthening the government's policy and regulatory functions, to provide more orientation to the numerous NGOs active in water and sanitation. In January 2010 parts of Haiti including the capital were hit by a massive earthquake. More than 1.5 million people were displaced and had to live in refugee camps without piped water supply or sanitation, where most of them still lived one year after the earthquake.A year of indecision leaves Haiti’s recovery at a standstill
Oxfam International, 6 January 2011
In October 2010 a cholera epidemia broke out that killed 6,435 people until September 2011. According to the US Center for Disease Control the suspected source for the epidemic was the Artibonite River, from which some of the affected people had drunk water. An article in the journal Nature argues that "the limited resources available to combat the country's cholera epidemic should be spent on sanitation and clean water, rather than on vaccination".


Responsibility for water supply and sanitation

The main public institution in the Haitian water sector is the National Directorate for Water Supply and Sanitation in the Ministry of Public Works, called DINEPA after its French acronym (''Direction Nationale d'Eau Potable et d'Assainissement''). The directorate is in charge of implementing the sector policy, coordinating donor assistance and regulating service providers. Regional service providers under the authority of the DINEPA are called OREPA (''Offices Régionaux de l'Eau Potable et de l'Assainissement'') and provide water supply in urban areas. Municipalities are supposed to become responsible for water supply and sanitation in the long run as per the framework law, but their capacity is limited and currently they play almost no role in the sector. Private operators and what are called "professional operators" can also operate water systems according to the water and sanitation framework law of 2009. There are hundreds of water committees, called CAEPAs (''Comités d'Aprovisionnement en Eau Potable et d'Assainissement'') or simply ''Comités d'Eau'', in charge of water systems in rural areas and some small towns. They consist of elected community members. Their degree of formalization and effectiveness varies considerably. The best water committees meet regularly, closely interact with the community, regularly collect revenues, hire a plumber who performs routine repairs, have a bank account and are registered and approved by DINEPA. However, many water committees fall short of these expectations. There is no national or regional registry of water committees or water systems and there are no associations of water committees at the municipal, departmental or national level. Another public entity that invests in water supply is FAES, a
Social fund A social fund (sometimes also called ''Social Investment Fund'', ''Social Fund for Development'', ''Social Action Fund'', ''National Solidarity Fund'' or ''Social Development Agency'') is an institution, typically in a developing country, that provi ...
. Sector agencies have lost qualified and trained staff, often to NGOs and donor agencies, because of their low pay levels. NGOs perform a wide variety of functions and often attract the most qualified and motivated staff due to their higher salary levels. They are particularly active in rural areas, but also in small towns and urban slums.


Tariffs, cost recovery and financing

Tariffs in Haiti are flat rates due to the absence of metering for most customers, and can vary greatly depending on location and provider. Tariffs in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince are much higher than those in provincial towns. Tariffs are lowest in rural areas, if they are charged at all. In 2008 water tariffs in small towns varied from about the equivalent of $1 per month in the central plateau to roughly $7.30 per month in
Kenscoff Kenscoff ( ht, Kenskòf) is a commune in the Port-au-Prince Arrondissement, in the Ouest department of Haiti, located in the foothills of the Chaîne de la Selle mountain range, some 10 kilometres to the southeast of the capital city of Port-au-P ...
near the capital. Metering is rare outside the capital and even there only a fraction of customers are metered, in particular water committees in the informal settlements in Port-au-Prince as well as industrial customers. Many private citizens and some major consumers, such as luxury hotels, have disconnected from the public network and receive all their water via tanker trucks. The revenues of the OREPA barely cover operating costs, leaving insufficient resources for maintenance and no resources to self-finance investments. This problem is also evident in the myriad of community-operated and privately operated smaller systems throughout the country. Sometimes water is cut off to enforce payments, partly because payments cannot be enforced through the legal system. However, many customers reconnect illegally.


External cooperation

Almost all investments are financed by grants from NGOs or
official development assistance Official development assistance (ODA) is a category used by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to measure aid, foreign aid. The DAC first adopted the concept in ...
, chiefly the IDB, the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
,
USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
and the European Union. As of 2013, for the first time a venture capital firm announced it would finance investments in the Haitian water sector.


Non-governmental organizations

''Non-governmental organizations'' (NGOs): Many NGOs finance their activities through both individual contributions and grants that come directly from government donors or indirectly through the Haitian government. Some of the NGOs active in drinking water supply in Haiti are: *
Action Contre la Faim Action Against Hunger (french: Action Contre La Faim - ACF) is a global humanitarian organization which originated in France and is committed to ending world hunger. The organization helps malnourished children and provides communities with acce ...
(French), * AMURT Haïti in Anse Rouge commune, Artibonite Department *the ''Association haïtienne pour la maîtrise des eaux et des sols'' (ASSODLO) (Haitian). *
CARE Care may refer to: Organizations and projects * CARE (New Zealand), Citizens Association for Racial Equality, a former New Zealand organisation * CARE (relief agency), "Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere", an international aid and ...
(US), *the Comité Protos Haïti (Haitian), *the Centre fot Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) (Canadian), *le Groupe de recherche et d'échanges technologiques (GRET) (French), * Helvetas (Swiss), *Inter Aide (French), *International Action (US),
Haiti Outreach
(US), *
Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...
(UK and Canada), * Pan American Development Foundation (linked to the
Organisation of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...
) *
World Vision In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
(US). * Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL) (US) * Living Waters for the World (US) *Water Project For Haiti (Canada), Most NGOs are not specialized in water supply, but rather undertake community development across various sectors in specific localities. However, some NGOs - like International Action, Helvetas, ACF and GRET - focus on water supply and some also focus on sanitation.


Official Development Assistance

Inter-American Development Bank The
Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribb ...
is the largest donor for water supply and sanitation in Haiti with on-going projects in Port-au-Prince (since 2010), secondary cities (since 1998) and in rural areas (since 2006) implemented by DINEPA. The Spanish government provides substantial grant funding for IDB water and sanitation projects in Haiti. World Bank The World Bank supports two rural water supply and sanitation project implemented by DINEPA with total funding of US$10m and a series of community-driven development (CDD) projects that allow communities to choose the type of investment they want to undertake, including small-scale drinking water supply activities. The CDD project is implemented by community-based organizations with the close support of NGOs that work on behalf of the Haitian government.


Venture capital

In May 2013 the
venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...
firm
Leopard Capital Leopard Capital LP is a private equity fund manager specializing in frontier market investments. The Group is considered a pioneer investor in Southeast Asia’s Greater Mekong Subregion and the Caribbean. Structure and key personnel Leopard Capit ...
, through its Leopard Haiti
private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...
fund, announced that it intends to sell water for profit in Haiti at yet undisclosed locations and at an undisclosed price through a newly founded private company called
dloHaiti dloHaiti, Inc. is a private company providing safe, affordable drinking water to consumers in underserved neighborhoods across Haiti. The company is building a network of wells serviced by solar-powered kiosks that are equipped with hi-tech purifi ...
. It has raised US$3.4 million with the aim to build 40 water kiosks that would use solar-powered high-tech water purification systems. The company's investors also include the International Finance Corporation's InfraVentures Fund, the
Netherlands Development Finance Company FMO ( nl, Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V.) is a Dutch development bank structured as a bilateral private-sector international financial institution based in the Hague, the Netherlands. FMO manages funds for the ...
(FMO),
Miyamoto International Miyamoto International is a global structural engineering and disaster management firm best known for its work in California earthquake design for new and existing buildings as well as in the reconstruction of Port-au-Prince, Haiti and Christchurc ...
, and Jim Chu, dloHaiti's CEO and Founder.


See also

* Bayakou (trade) *
Sanitation worker A sanitation worker (or sanitary worker) is a person responsible for cleaning, maintaining, operating, or emptying the equipment or technology at any step of the sanitation chain.World Bank, ILO, WaterAid, and WHO (2019)Health, Safety and Dignity ...


References


External links


Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications - Water Supply and SanitationNational Directorate for drinking water and sanitation (DINEPA)International Action: Fighting the Water Crisis in HaitiSafe and Sustainable Water for Haiti hosted by Grand Valley State University
{{Water supply and sanitation by country Water supply and sanitation in Haiti, Environment of Haiti