PROVISION OF WATER TO THE POOR IN AFRICA The median value of the total WAIO varies between 2 and 2.7 for the total population and for the unconnected population only between just under 4 and 4.5, depending on the assumptions on household consumption.<sup>26</sup> The data thus confirms that inadequate water supply by water utilities places a heavy burden on the unconnected population. Burkina Faso has a low WAIO because its informal/retail standpipe price is actually below that of house connections.<sup>27</sup> South Africa and Namibia have WAIO’s close to 1 because they have high levels of formal connections, and low prices for alternatives (including standpipes). In contrast, despite having one of the highest household connection rates (77 percent), urban Senegal has a WAIO for the unconnected population of 4.15 but an overall WAIO of only 1.42, reflecting the relatively high unit prices faced by the minority of urban residents without connections, but the high overall coverage rate.

There are three important caveats of this indicator: First, it does not include owned or free resources such as private wells or the fetching of water directly from a river. Second, it measures the higher price of water compared to the price for the household connection. In certain cities with a formal standpipe price that is highly subsidized (with a substantially higher household connection price), the informal standpipe price might be equal to or slightly higher than that of the household connection. As a result, the coefficient is close to one, whereas the ratio of the informal over the formal standpipe price could be much more than one. Third, this analysis does not consider service quality measures such as distance to the supplier, time needed to collect the water or water quality and pressure.

This measure does provide an indication of distortions in the urban water market and help to better track the impact of policies on access and price for the whole water market, not just for the connected market. In Mozambique, the regulator (CRA) regularly carried out consumer assessments to measure formal and informal water prices, coverage, and quality.

While the WAIO calculated above uses DHS data and thus provides cross-country information, it does not specifically include the household reseller market, for which there is almost no comparable cross-country data. Nonetheless, the case of Maputo, Mozambique, which throughout its urban water reform process has tracked prices and coverage of both the informal and the formal water market through detailed beneficiary assessments, allows one to calculate the full WAIO below (table 3.8). The results confirm the order of magnitude of the calculations performed at the urban level with DHS and AICD data. The median value of the total WAIO on a consumption of the water volume of 10m3/month with DHS and AICD data is 2.08, and rises to 2.57 for the unconnected population. The median value of the total WAIO on a consumption of the water volume of 10m3/month based on the Maputo data is 1.62, and rises to 1.82 for the unconnected population (BA Maputo 2006).

> 26 On a consumption of the water volume of 4m3/month, the median value of the total WAIO is almost 2, and rises to almost 4 for the unconnected population. For the water volume of 10m3/month, the median value of the total WAIO is 2.7 and rises to 4.5 WAIOs for the unconnected population. Another important clarification is that the water price used for the household connections has been calculated assuming the same level of consumption for all countries, both at 4m3/month and 10m3/month level. More detailed analyses are needed to understand the effect that real consumption levels have on the price, and therefore in the calculation of the indicator.

> 27 Based on price data as reported under the AICD by utilities, and coverage data as reported by DHS.

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