‘They don’t read metres, they only bring bills’: Issues surrounding the installation of prepaid water metres in Karoi town, Zimbabwe

Gondo, Reniko; Kolawole, Oluwatoyin Dare

doi:10.1080/03736245.2019.1691046

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…But, for many, “living prepaid” means that these become luxuries that must be planned for and personally provisioned. Indeed, in Zimbabwe, Reniko and Kolawole (2019) argue that prepaid water systems contradict the Constitution as they discriminate against low‐income citizens while wealthy water users benefit from reduced bills as bad debt is reduced.…”

Section: Digital Water Politics and The Internet Of Things: The Changmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resocializing digital water transformations: Outlining social science perspectives on the digital water journey

et al. 2021

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Digital water transformation is often written about as though universally desirable and inevitable, capable of addressing the multifaceted socioecological challenges that water systems face. However, there is not widespread reflection on the complexities, tensions and unintended consequences of digital transformation, its social and political dimensions are often neglected. This article introduces case studies of digital water development, bringing examples of technological innovation into dialogue with literature and empirical research from across the social sciences. We examine how Big Data affects our observations of water in society to shape water management, how the Internet of Things becomes involved in reproducing unjust water politics, how digital platforms are entangled in the varied sociocultural landscape of everyday water use, and how opensource technologies provide new possibilities for participatory water governance. We also reflect on regulatory developments and the possible trajectories of innovation resulting from public‐private sector interactions. A socially and politically informed view of digital water is essential for just and sustainable development, and the gap between industry visions of digital water and research within the social sciences is inhibitive. Thus, the analysis presented in this article provides a novel, pluralistic perspective on digital water development and outlines what is required for more inclusive future scholarship, policy and practice. This article is categorized under: Human Water

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Section: Digital Water Politics and The Internet Of Things: The Changmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resocializing digital water transformations: Outlining social science perspectives on the digital water journey

et al. 2021

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“…In post-Mugabe Harare, Zimbabwe introduced its local currency (RTGS$) as the sole legal tender in June 2019 (Reniko & Kolawole 2019), which fell sharply against the dollar resulting in a 62.0% decrease in the country's combined tariffs, despite the actual local monetary value of the combined tariff increased. Prolonged droughts in Namibia caused NamWater in Windhoek to increase its combined water tariffs by 9.9% since 2018 (Neto & Camkin 2020).…”

Section: Sub-saharan Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of change in urban water and wastewater tariffs

Damkjaer

2020

H2Open Journal

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Water and wastewater tariffs constitute a primary avenue for utilities to generate revenue towards covering the costs associated with water and wastewater service provisions. In the pursuit of achieving global access to safe and affordable water and sanitation, utilities and governments play an important role in regulating and setting combined tariffs, so that they are able to fund the necessary infrastructure while at the same time ensuring that tariffs do not impede on the ability of consumers to access these services. From a survey of 568 cities across 192 countries, this paper examines the main economic and financial drivers of change to regional urban water and wastewater tariffs from 2018 to 2019. Historically, the average global price for water and wastewater services increased from US$ 1.70/m3 in 2011 to US$ 2.16/m3 in 2019, equating to an annual rise in the mean global combined water tariff of ∼3.4%. The analysis indicates that for the studied regions, the financial and economic costs associated with recurring droughts, old infrastructure, subsidy cuts, increasing energy costs and a shift to alternative water resources such as desalination all contribute to changes in tariffs. Further research on the social and political drivers of change in tariffs is needed, in order to provide a holistic understanding of the balance required to be struck between the objectives of affordability and cost-recovery for achieving global access to water and sanitation.

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Urban Water Governance in Zimbabwe: Opportunities and Challenges Toward SDG6

Kanyepi¹,

Tanyanyiwa²

2021

Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals

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‘They don’t read metres, they only bring bills’: Issues surrounding the installation of prepaid water metres in Karoi town, Zimbabwe

Cited by 7 publications

References 27 publications

Resocializing digital water transformations: Outlining social science perspectives on the digital water journey

Resocializing digital water transformations: Outlining social science perspectives on the digital water journey

Drivers of change in urban water and wastewater tariffs

Urban Water Governance in Zimbabwe: Opportunities and Challenges Toward SDG6

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