I thought I would write my blog about the progress of restoring clean water and sanitation in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the destructive earthquake of January 2010. The more I looked into the Haiti water situation, the more desperate the situation appears, even before the quake occurred.
Haiti has no clear central authority for water supply, but a patchwork of barely functioning public water committees, functioning under two different government agencies, one for Port-au-Prince and one for the remainder of the country. The capital city public water utility, CAMEP, has few workers and fewer resources. Most of the control of water supply is given over to local water committees who purchase bulk water from CAMEP and the re-sell the water to residents and businesses. Any profits gained can be used for other things, not necessarily water distribution projects. Although CAMEP serves two million residents, they are not allowed to enforce payments for water use through the courts, and instead typically just turn off the water supply to non-paying customers. The water supply is then typically re-connected without payment, and with little staff, there is little enforcement.
Typically in slum areas, the water is is resold by third and even fourth parties before reaching consumers, each vendor receiving a portion of profit. There are also local wells drilled by private entrepreneurs, with no oversight, that also sell to vendors and residents.
Another problem with the current system is lack of water meters often means that water is billed at a flat rate, mostly based on ability to pay. With such low income, there has been a considerable gap between water demand and ability to supply.
An attempt to formalize the water committees, ensure sustainable income for the utilities, and bring clean safe water to the shanty towns was organized by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and the Business Partners for Development after 1995. This resulted in a more formal situation for 670,000 residents though a system of CAMEP supplied infrastructure and a regulated water system. There is still at this point no indoor plumbing or sanitation for any of these areas, and people must go to the standpipe distribution point to collect water.
After the earthquake, the fragile water system, still only serving a fraction of the city, has totally collapsed. As is the situation before the rebuilding effort of the last 15 years, most of the water used by residents in relocation camps is trucked in by NGO's. This unsustainable system needs once again to be replaced piece by piece. The areas chosen for relocation of the slum populations have even fewer resources. Charities such as the Catholic Relief Services are working on solutions that will be temporary fixes, such as bottled water and latrine construction. Public water infrastructure and sanitary sewers seem to be move to the distant future in order to serve the immediate need.
There has been billions of dollars pledged to rebuild Haiti, and very little of this money has been spent, with the exception of what the NGO's can supply in emergency relief, much of which has gone to resettlement camps and to rural areas. The NGO work is one of the bright lights in the relief efforts so far. Most of the long term commitment has to come from a stable Haitian government, assisted by organizations such as the World Bank, the UN, and the foreign governments that have pledged to help. It is estimated it will cost $11.5 Billion to reconstruct Haiti in the next 3 years. While a lot of money, this is only a half what it cost to build the Big Dig in Boston. Donor nations have committed about a third of what is required so far.
As of now, there is still so much rubble in Port-au-Prince that work on rebuilding the central government buildings has yet to begin. For years from now, women and children will be walking to get their water a few gallons at a time from a truck or cistern. The dream of getting potable water from a faucet in a home is a dream for the distant future.
