Given the performance described in the previous section and the challenges faced, what can Algeria do to make more out of public intervention in the water sector? International experience varies, ranging from situations where planning is conducted at national, provincial, and local levels to less sophisticated, limited exercises driven by urgency and budget planning constraints. One way or another, statements on vision, mission, objectives, values, strategies, and goals represent elements in future planning. Goals also serve as benchmarks for a historic review of costs and benefits of water mobilization, infrastructure performance of the operators, efficiency of service delivery, coverage, and so forth. In Algeria, the need for a strategic planning framework has been explicitly recognized (CNES 2000).
The Ministry of Water Resources (MRE) holds the main responsibility in the provision of water infrastructure and services. The MRE is responsible for policy orientation, planning, regulation, and supervision of activities. Other agencies are responsible for the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of infrastructure, and water supply and sanitation (WSS) and irrigation services delivery (see Annex K). Usually, municipalities provide WSS services in small towns and rural areas. Table 6.6 provides an overview of the present distribution of roles between the central government, government agencies and local authorities, and the private sector, for each sub-sector. This distribution, however, has suffered several changes in the last decade. Water supply was centralized, decentralized and recentralized several times. The irrigation sector was taken care of by the Ministry of Agriculture before being transferred to the MRE. Continuous institutional changes have limited the accumulation of expertise and the creation of solid institutions.
Table 6.6 Institutional Arrangements in the Water Sector
Subsector
Central government DPAE / Technical department
Government agencies
Local authorities
Private sector
(EPICs)/a
Large infrastructures
DMRE (planning)
ANBT
Feasibility studies
Implementation
Management
Irrigation
Infrastructure
DHA (planning, regulation)
ONID (Large-scale irrigation)
PMH
OPI (GPI management)
Services
Farmers
Water supply
Infrastructure
DAEP (planning, regulation)
ADE
DHW
Feasibility studies
Implementation
Services
ADE
Municipalities
Private sector in Algiers
Sanitation
DAPE (planning, regulation etc)
ONA
DHW
Infrastructure
Private sector
Services
ONA
Municipalities
Watersheds
DEAH (planning, regulation etc)
ABH
ANRH (national level, multiple functions)
a Etablissement Public à Caractère Industriel et Commercial (EPIC)
Source : Bank staff elaboration
Algeria adopted a Water Law in 2005 (Annexes I and J). This follows the 1996 amendment of the 1983 Water Law, which included the findings of the Asssises de l’eau in 1995. These findings mainly referred to poor water and watershed management. The creation of watershed agencies was proposed, though not totally implemented. The 2005 amendments introduced new rules and principles governing the management and conservation of water resources. New regulations on the water law are being drafted.
Article 59 of the 2005 Water Law calls for a new water master plan. The primary objective of the Plan National de L’Eau (PNE) is to establish a basic framework for orderly and integrated planning and implementation of water resources programs and projects. Its goal is to create rational water resources management that is consistent with national development objectives. As required by law, Algeria is now updating its water master plan. As of May 2006, MRE-DEAH has prepared one draft for each of the four hydrologic regions. Each draft has three parts.
Description of the quantity and quality of water resources, including surface water, groundwater, an alternative resources
Description of the present and future water demand, broken down by user groups, projected usage, and likely population
Presentation of technical (physical) and operational water management measures to meet the future demands, taking into account their temporal variations, spatial distributions, as well as social, environmental, and economic considerations.
These drafts quantify resources (that is, water available) and demand (that is, water required) by region and by main water-consuming center. This quantification takes into account time (monthly values according to alternative projections), location, source type (oueds, reservoirs and lakes, groundwater), demand types (municipal, industrial, and irrigation), as well as alternative development scenarios.97
These changes are consistent with a water sector strategy aiming to improve the quality of life through several means.
Providing sustainable use and effective protection of water resources, especially groundwater.
Ensuring food security through water security and by increased production and improved productivity in the agriculture sector.
Bringing access to safe drinking water and sanitation, guaranteeing people’s heath security.
Supplying the required water to economic sectors.
Controlling and mitigating water-related disasters and protecting the environment.
Achieving these overall objectives implies success in a set of related objectives. Among others, these include:
An integrated approach to water resources management through the development of a water basin authority and the appointment of the ministry of water resources as the overall coordinator of water and supply management.
Decentralization of water delivery and management services using a variety of autonomous, accountable water users associations (public, private, and community-based).
Prevention of the effects of droughts and floods to prevent losses and displacement of people from affected areas and negative environmental impacts
Water conservation and harvesting while protecting the environment from further destruction, and restoration of a sustainable balance between economic benefits and environmental protection.
Regulations for an efficient allocation of water resources while reforming prices.
Thus, Algeria has endorsed this overall vision of water development and management in its laws and started to apply it in its policies, while prioritizing sustainable use of water. However, a comprehensive strategy for the development and management of the water sector has not been formally adopted or widely disseminated. MRE drafted a water master plan (see below) outlining broad objectives to be met though a program of investment and institutional reforms. Unfortunately, such plan is not in formal use, and is not followed as such by any authority yet.
In the meantime, the PNE leads to several specific measures. These include the following.
Recognition of the need for an integrated water resources management. The Ministry of Water Resources has been given responsibility for the overall coordination of water supply and demand management (Decree No. 2000-325).
Endorsement of a basin approach in water resource management. Five hydrographic basin agencies and five basin committees have been set up by Decree No. 96-280, and a special fund for integrated water resource management (IWRM) has been established to help those agencies fulfill their mandates.98
Special treatment to water conservation and water harvesting. Promotion of water conservation for irrigation and the environment will be considered in designing rehabilitation projects (for example, Circulaire Interminesterielle No. 294/SPM/86, which reflects the importance that is being given to the Hill Dams Program).
Decentralization of water delivery services. This includes using several autonomous and accountable agencies, including public, private, and community-based water user organizations. New EPIC status (see above) has been given to ANBT, ONID, ADE, ONA and the national institute for water resources;
Reform of water pricing regimes for public supplies, for sewerage and sewage treatment, and agriculture. Decree No. 05-13 for water supply and sanitation services, and Decree No. 05-15 for agricultural water were both adopted on January 9, 2005.
In sum, water sector strategy and policy formulation are in transition. Gradually, they are moving toward a framework of stakeholder participation in which issues of quality, economic efficiency, comprehensiveness, and integrated management at the level of implementing ministerial entities are used to make the case for public intervention (or the lack thereof). Nevertheless, accountable, transparent institutional procedures are still at their infancy. Coordination mechanisms to manage the water sector are absent. This is a key weakness, because several economic sectors as well as the water users themselves are involved in the allocation of water. Dealing with severe water shortages in some parts of the country as well as the need for rapid implementation of the PCSC investment is sufficient justification for bringing the subsectoral strategies together. This is one of the most important recommendations of La Strategie du Secteur de l’Eau en Algerie (World Bank, 2003c) (see Annexes N and O). To support the completion of this process, Table 6.7 summarizes some key questions that need to be addressed by subsectoral strategies in the medium-term.
Table 6.7 Issues and Questions for Preparing National and Subsectoral Water Strategies
Water supply
How much water can be saved through better management (compared with increased supply)? What is the cost of transferring water from dams initially designed for irrigation? How are desalination projects selected? How are large water supply projects selected, and who can overcapacity be avoided (as in Beni Haroun and Saf Saf dams, already built; and in the Salah-Tamanrasset transfer, to be launched in 2006)?
Water sanitation
To what extent sanitation should always be coupled with reuse, as works in this area is mainly managed by municipalities that lack the minimum funds to perform it? What minimum funds would be required? How to include rehabilitation or new sanitation? How can sanitation receive the necessary transfers from budget?
Is additional storage needed? How much storage should be built and in what sequence? How should these new supplies be allocated and distributed? What are the long-term consequences of continued storage depletion? Are economic returns commensurate with the cost of water mobilization? What happens as the limits of water resources are approached? What should be the target level of water security and reliability? Should different levels of security be associated with different water rights?
Irrigation and agriculture
What are the government’s options for achieving its goals in food security and rural development? What are the respective costs and risks? Should the irrigated area and supplies of irrigation water be expanded? If so, by how much? Should a major shift in cropping be considered or planned? What changes will be needed in irrigated agriculture and water management related to infrastructure, incentives, and governance? What kind of technologies should be put in place in irrigation schemes, and what are the economic and financial returns that can be expected?
Resource conservation, protection and water quality
What is the role and scope of water conservation? What policy should be put in place to avoid waste and, consequently, allocations for particular users? How to deal with leakages?
Large dams and transfers
How to mitigate the environmental and social impacts of increased water resources development and transfers from the coastal plains to the Hauts Plateaux?
Intersectoral planning, water allocation, and management
As decisionmaking is often triggered by emergencies or political factors, rather than by strategies or feasibility analysis, planning itself should be strengthened. Can future water demand be balanced against incremental increases in supply? What additional changes in sector policy would be needed in water rights, water allocation and operations, pricing and revenue sharing, electricity pricing in the agriculture sector, and so forth? Can irrigation and water supply be better integrated with sanitation policies? Who should finance which programs and new projects? How to integrate users’ expectations in the planning process ?
Groundwater regulation and management
Does the new policy and legislative framework provide the right platform for effective groundwater management? What regulatory and monitoring mechanisms should be put in place?
Nonconventional water resources
What role should be given to desalination—as a complement in emergency situations, or as a routine resource?
Water for industry
What incentives for water saving should be built in to industrial water policy—for example, recycling or process modification? What regulations on environmental protection should be strengthened?
Source: Bank staff elaboration
If Algeria were to adopt subsectoral strategies, selecting projects from the PCSC might benefit from solving a simplified optimization problem, as follows:
Maximized Total Benefits of investment, policy reform, and institutional changes
w1 * Supply Expansion (storage expansion, i.e., Saf Saf, Ourkis, Boussiaba, Kissir, Kef Eddir, and other new dams; small dams; improvements in diversion capacity and function; improvements in overall system operation, water conservation and efficiency improvements)
+
w2 * System Expansion (e.g., transfers of Kissir, Koudiat Rosfa, and Kramis; urban water supply expansion and rehabilitation for Koudiat Acerdoune-Boughzoul axis; irrigation Hennaya perimeter)
+
w3 * Management (e.g., watercourse lining and land leveling—for example, supply management-rehabilitation and modernization; flood protection; improved operations and maintenance versus new investments; improved water allocations and scheduling; improved equity at system and distribution levels; groundwater management incentives; introduction of new agriculture and irrigation technology; effective access to markets, knowledge and information; human resource development and research)
+
w4 * Environment sustainability (salinity, reducing drainable surplus, water quality, safeguarding ecology upstream and downstream of dams, wastewater collection and treatment)
+
w5 * Productivity (cropping patterns, water rights and markets, water pricing, intersectoral allocations, interbasin allocations)
+
w6 * Governance and Institutional Reform (improved public service and accountability; cost reduction; decentralization; empowerment of users; financing of public versus private goods, and so forth.) subject to budget, water, labor, equipment, and other resource constraints.
The decision or preference weights, wi,and the choice of interventions within each component of the model are not determined solely by economic welfare, efficiency, or a general notion of equity. They are also strongly influenced by political economy considerations (World Bank 2006b) also important is the timeframe in which each investment yields benefits. Is it short, medium, or long term? Limitations of total water resources, the financial resource envelope available for the sector, and the large, lumpy character of some key investments make tradeoffs difficult. Consideration of alternative phasing and sequencing of investments is critical for the overall success of the strategy. This provides an opportunity for the government to choose particular interventions and weights, while the multiple social and economic objectives are being achieved in an acceptable timeframe.
The government should be seeking a mixed strategy that balances the ways that different choices can be looked at and evaluated. Sound planning and technical analysis are essential to effective, timely political economy decisions. Quite apart from the political conflicts and the general complexity of the issues, solving the planning problem for the sector—even simplified attempts—are more difficult because of the prevailing weaknesses in economic analysis, measurement, and research in general. Good studies on the institutional framework are lacking. They are seriously overshadowed by technical and engineering studies, which are generally considered as “the real” analytical tools for water sector analysis. There is currently no water sector investment study nor national water basin models.99
Two other initiatives are also needed. First, knowledge databases, analytical tools, and information systems need to be improved.100 Second, a new mechanism is needed for consensus-building among all stakeholders—at the wilaya, water basin, and national levels.
