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The Challenges of Water Supply for A Megacity: A Case Study of Lagos Metropolis

S.O. Oyegoke, A.O. Adeyemi and A.O. Sojobi

ABSTRACT

Lagos State has grow n f rom 300,000 and 500,000 in 1950 and 1991 to an unprecedented population of 15.7 million (Mabogunje, 2002). Already, it is projected to have a population of 25 million by 2015 w hich w ill make Lagos the third largest megacity af ter Tokyo and Bombay and a population of 29 million by 2020, w ith an annual grow th rate of 8 %( UNCHS, 1996; George, 2010; LWC, 2011). This scenario presents enormous emerging challenges as w ell as opportunities that are numerous, diverse and inevitable.

This geometric population grow th, coupled w ith accelerated industrialization and urbanization, has contributed immensely to t he hydra-headed problems of w ater scarcity, uneven and inadequate pipe-borne w ater distribution and transmission, increased exposure to incidence of w ater-borne diseases such as typhoid and cholera leading to loss of lives and valuable man-hours. There is increased reliability on unw holesome w ater sources such as “pure” w ater sachets, polluted surf ace and underground w aters, and increased urban poverty ow ing to a combination of the above problems, the increased cost of production f or industries and increased distr ibution losses (Akunyili, 2003).

The major elements of w ater supply include surf ace and groundw ater sources, w ater-treatment w orks-primary, secondary and tertiary, and pipe distribution systems. Lagos Metropolis and its environs are served by three (3) major w aterw orks, tw enty-seven (27) mini-w aterw orks, out of w hich f if teen (15) w ere recently commissioned and ten (10) micro-w aterw orks, w ith a combined production capacity of 240MGD, w hich meets about 40% of current demand (LWC, 2011).

The rivers w hich trav erse the state, namely Rivers Ogun, Oshun, Aye, Ow o, Yew a, Iju all combine to produce a total saf e yield of 3,565 MLD. The groundw ater aquif er under the state located in the Coastal Plain Sand and Abeokuta f ormations at a depth betw een 600 -800m is capable of a total yield of 650, 000 m3/day (Oyegoke, 1986; Longe et al, 1987; Coode, 1997).

An estimated $3 Billion w ill be required f or massive w ater infrastructural development w ithin the next ten years according to Lagos State Government w hile $3.7389B investment is required to produce 3954 MLD (870MGD) w hich is enough to meet the year 2025 f orecasted demand of 3900 MLD according to Challenge International Associates (2006). This can only be met by Public -Private Partnerships w hile concerted eff ort is made f or investment recovery.

KEYWORDS: metropolis, w aterw orks, demand, population, groundw ater, surf ace w ater , w atersupply.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

—————————— ——————————
economic, and social per spectives. Nevertheless, pr oper ly
managed or gover ned, megacities hold enormous potential
Accor ding to United Nation’s pr oj ections, by 2050 almost
half of the w orld’s population will be experiencing either
water scarcity (<1,000m3 of r enewable w ater per capita per year ) or water str ess (betw een 1,000m 3 and 1,700m3 per capita per year ). It is estimated that 1 billion people in developing countries do not have access to portable water and unsafe water is implicated in the deaths of mor e than 3 million people annually and causes 2.4 billion episodes of
illness fr om water-bor ne diseases each year .
The w or ld urban population was pr oj ected to incr ease fr om
6.7billion in 2007 to 9.2billion in 2050(United Nations,
2008). 90% of this global entir e population growth w ill take place in urban ar eas of developing economies (Br ocker hoff,
2000 in Lunqvist et al, 2003, United Nations, 2004).
Megacities, with unpr ecedented size and complexity, have critical r oles as gateways in the global economy, but they pose huge challenges for sustainable urban development. Their scale and complexities accumulate to a degr ee that makes these cities vulner able in political, envir onmental,
for positive development, on both r egional and inter national levels.
A megacity is defined as a city with a population of at least
10 million(UNCHS, 1996) and megacities ar e now home to almost one out of ten people of the w orld’s urb an population(Globescan & Hazel, 2007). Of the 27 megacities pr edicted for the year 2015, 18 will be in Asia, 5 in Latin
Amer ica, 2 in Africa, 2 in Nor th Amer ica and none in Eur ope (Ilesanmi, 2010). Accor ding to a global r esear ch pr oj ect on 25 megacities, the mega-challenges that they face include: transpor tation, electr icity, water and wastewater , healthcar e, safety and security. This corr oborates the infr astr uctur al pr iorities proposed for mega cities by Abiodun(1997) and Geor ge(2010) which includes portable water supply and sanitation, housing, civil construction, transportation, urban design, waste disposal and dr ainage system, healthcar e deliver y, security of lives and pr operty, ener gy gener ation, distribution and supply. Accor ding to a UNDP estimate in 2004, 1.1 billion people lived mor e than
1km fr om the near est safe water source (W atkins, 2006).

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With a gr owth rate of 3.5%, an urban population will be doubled in 20 years.
The for ces identified for this explosive growth include industr ialization, mass transpor tation and the telecommunications r evolution (Hall & Pfeiffer , 2000).The management challenges posed by the gr owth on a mega- scale ar e substantial (Jones & Visar ia, 1997) coupled w ith rapid urbanization(Paddison, 2001).How ever , the overwhelming pr oblem is not urban gr owth, but the lack of political w ill and use of inappr opriate and obsolete planning par adigms.This is wher e the challenges lie for developing economies.
Niger ian urban population which was about 3.5 million in
1950 r ose to about 78.8 million in 2010 and is expected to incr ease to 217 million in 2050(UN, 2008) out of which 75% will r eside in urban ar eas(Akiyode, 2010). In many developing countr ies, urban infr astr uctur e lags behind infr astr uctur al needs.
The evolution of Lagos State as a megacity in a developing economy like Niger ia is phenomenal, both demographically and spatially (Ilesanmi, 2010). The population of Lagos gr ew fr om 25,000 in 1866 to 665,246 in 1963, 7,800,781 in
1991 and r eached the megacity status in 1995 (Bamgbose et
al, 2000; Ilesanmi, 2010).
Lagos was believed to have a population of 17 million in
2009, w ith an estimated gr owth rate that is ten times faster
than that of New Yor k and Los Angeles (Lagos State
Government , 2009). It is expected that the population of Lagos megacity w ill be 24.4 million by 2015, making it the wor ld’s third lar gest city after Tokyo(28.7 million) and Mumbai(27.4 million)(UNCHS, 1996; Geor ge, 2010), although curr ently the fifth lar gest city in the wor ld(Ilesanmi 2010).
The economic, administrative, social, institutional, industr ial and commer cialization gr owth made Lagos an attractive place which continues to encourage the influx of people to the city (Akiyode, 2010). Lagos, being a form er capital city of Niger ia until 1999, still r emains the industr ial and commercial center of Niger ia (Adelakun, 2009).
The rapid gr owth of megacities of the developing w orld has posed maj or water planning and management challenges (Biswas et al, 2004) and for Lagos in particular . The city has suffer ed sever al infr astr uctur al neglect and setbacks (Ilesanmi, 2010; CIA, 2006) and hence, effor t is being made to ensur e the infr astr uctur al development in
the state fits its megacity status, which is pioneer ed lar gely by the state gover nment.
Water supply and water secur ity is one of the challenges facing Lagos State as a megacity. Water secur ity is defined by Gr ey and Sadoff(2007) as the ‘availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems and pr oduction, coupled with an acceptable level of w ater-r elated r isks to the people,
envir onment and economics.’ Accor ding to W orld Water
For um (2000), water is vital for the life, the health of the
people, and ecosystems, and a basic r equir ement for the development of countr ies.
The city’s infrastructural challenges can also b e attr ibuted to the use of ad hoc, isolated pr escription, unsustainable initiatives and paucity of innovative solutions in planning and development.
2.0 CURRENT AND ENVISAGED W ATER SUPPLY CHALLENGES
The curr ent and envisaged pr oblems of water supply in the megacity ar e enormous and include gr owth of slums, poor level of service, poor and inadequate r ecticulation netw or k, high level of distribution losses, incr ea sing level of poverty, pollution, inadequate monitor ing of water-r elated pr oj ects, poor quality contr ol, water -r elated diseases, ener gy generation and capacity building. Likewise, the funding, management and efficient r unning of w ater services , as w ell as the need to find infrastr uctural solutions that ar e envir onmentally sustainable r emains an uphill but surmountable task(Anselm, 2010). Accor ding to Kehinde and Longe(2003), our water supply sector have been bedeviled by pr oblems such as inadequate infr astr uctur e for water tr eatment and distribution, ageing and corr oded pipe networ k, booster stations, unplanned extensions, non- availability of maintenance and r epair services and poor staffing and capacity building
The gr owth of slums in Lagos state also calls for grave concern. Almost 70% of the Lagos metr opolis r eside in slums w hich gr ew fr om 42 in 1985 to over 100 in 2006(FRN,
2006; Davis, 2004). Pr ovision of water supplies to these r egions should be included in the foci for w ater supply because of ther e potential for population concentration.
Furthermor e, the inability of government to consistently pr ovide adequate water contributed to the pr oliferation of
‘pur e water ’ manufacturing in Niger ia and the urban poor often spend up to 10-20 times mor e on water from vendors than piped water (Akunyili, 2003)

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2.1 STATE OF W ATER SUPPLY IN LAGOS METROPOLIS
The Lagos Water Supply System compr ising 3 maj or waterw or ks(Adiyan, Ij u and Isashi), tw enty -seven(27) mini- waterw or ks and ten(10) micr o-waterw or ks has a combined pr oduction capacity of 240mgd which only meets about
40% of curr ent water demand, an impr ovement fr om 25% in 2006(CIA, 2006; LW C, 2011). In line w ith the Master plan(Table 1), which aims to close demand gap in line w ith the MDGs, r ecently fifteen mini-waterw or ks, each with a pr oduction capacity of 2MGD and a r ecticulation networ k of 5km,w er e deliver ed acr oss 15 LGAs, pr ecisely Ajangbadi, Aj egunle, Ikor odu, Isher i-Oshun, Epe, Meir an, Magodo, Bador e, Oj okor o, Mosan-Okunola, Ikate, Abule Egba, Imeke-Iw or o and Oshodi.
The inalienable gap was due to lar gely to population explosion, faulty and poor maintenance cultur e, fr equent pow er outage, poor planning and lack of political will. As of year 2005, ther e wer e 160,000 service pipe connections and 5200 standpipes.
The Lagos State Water Supply master plan, w hich is in thr ee phases, aims to r educe waste and un-accounted for water , incr ease amount of billed water and collection efficiency and incr ease access to portable water , lar gely dr iven by management contr act. Based on the masterplan, pr oj ected water demand for the megacity is estimated as 733 MGD while pr oduction capacity w ould have been 745MGD (Table 2).
Table 1: Lagos State Water Supply Master Plan (LW C, 2011)
Table 2: Demand Gap Estimates-Short, Medium and Long
Term (LW C, 2011)

Year

Population

Water Demand

(mgd/mld)

Water

Pr oduction

(mgd/mld)

2010-2013

20,837,250

625/2,838.03

362/1,643.4

2014-2017

25,327,808

633/2,873.19

622/2,823.2

2018-2020

29,320,103

733/3,327.83

745/3,382.3

As of 2007, about 74% of the installed pr oduction capacity of existing waterwor ks is fr om sur face water tr eatment wor ks while the over all per formance of centers r elative to their installed capacity is 39.53
The thr ee maj or waterwor ks derive their water fr om River Ogun with safe yield of 2596MLD w hile other river sour ces that need to be exploited include River Osun (260MLD), River Aye (105MLD), River Ow o(159MLD), River Yewa(233MLD) and River Ij u(216MLD).
The gr oundwater wor ks can only be sour ced from two r egional hydr ogeological aquifer s namely Abeokuta and Coastal Plain Sands Formations (Oyegoke, 1986; Longe et al, 1987; CIA, 2006) with the latter being the main aquifer for Lagos metr opolis. For ar eas far fr om the coast such as Ikej a, Itoikin, Er edo, Igbonla and Otta, the Abeokuta formation(ABF) is located betw een a depth of 188m to
750m w ith yield varying fr om 29m 3 /hr to 200m3 /hr . On the
other hand, the Coastal Plain Sand (CPS), a multi- aquifer ous system, has a yield value varying fr om 20-
100m3 /h (Longe et al, 1987, Coode Blizard, 1997 ). A maj or concern, however , is the r echar ge of these aquifers w ith envisaged potential usage of gr oundwater to meet the water demands for Lagos South East, Lagos South W est and Victor ia Island.
The initial distr ibution networ k was aligned approximately Nor th-South and connecting the tr eatment plant at Iju in the North with Victor ia Island in the South. A trunk was added w estwards fr om Isashi waterw or ks in 1977, then additional primary tr unk mains added betw een 1988 and
1992 to convey water fr om Adiyan waterw or ks. Additional mains r equir ed ar e as shown in table 2. How ever , it is sad to note that some of the mains w er e laid pr ior to 1950 and due to age, encr ustr ation and plant intrusion, have their
capacity drastically r educed. Affected ar eas include Apapa, Yaba, Ebute Metta, Lagos Island and Ikoyi. Furthermor e, some ar eas of the megacity, though w ith high r esidential and commercial density, do not have mains. These include Gbagada, Owor onshoki, Idimu, Akute, Isher i, Agbara,

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Ikor odu, Alimosho, Mow e, Ogij o to mention a few . It is imperative that all the existing service r eser voirs w er e r ehabilitated and new ones built to pr ovide for capacity to meet two(2) hour s aver age flow by 2015(CIA, 20 06).
For most water schemes, the water w or ks ar e usually set up while the pow er supply is still pending or under constr uction. As a r esult, such schemes eventually collapse partly due to poor handling by unskilled hands in power generating equipment and unbearable r unning costs. In addition, the location and diversion of waterw or ks several kilometers fr om their headwor ks such as Ij u and Adiyan, leads to system disturbance, per ennial low voltage leading to incr eased losses on the tr ansmission lines and r educed operational efficiency of the waterw or ks. Hence, the need for Independent Power Supply. The ener gy r equir ement to meet year 2025 water supply is shown in Table 3.
As the w orld is a global village, ther e is need to incor porate best pr actices fr om developed and developing countr ies so as to impr ove our w ater management and supply. Ther e is need to adopt the Japanese philosophy of ‚Dantotsu‛: gaining the best of the bests by learning, assimilating and improving in or der enj oy the der ivable benefits and drastically impr ove our water management and supply.
3.1 BEST PRACTICES IN W ATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION: LEARNING FROM SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS
Successful water supply and sanitation pr oj ects contribute dir ectly to the attainment of MDG (Millenium Development Goal) Tar get 10(halving by 2015 the
pr oportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation).
Based on a r eview of eighteen(18) pr oj ects appr oved by the
Asian Development Bank(ADB), 35 -40% of the pr oj ects of each gr oup(urban, rur al, urban/r ural) w er e consider ed highly successful and the r est successful(ADB, 2007 ).
The character istics of these pr oj ects ar e as follows:
Table 3. Ener gy Requir ements water supply expansion to
2025 (CIA, 2006)

Waterw or

ks

Design

Capacit

y

Pr opose

d

Expansio n

Over all

Requir e

d

Over all

Ener gy

Demand

Waterw or

ks

(KW

)

(KVA

)

Adiyan

318.22

636.44

954.66

2161

5

27019

Ij u

204.57

-

204.57

5102

6400

Isashi

18.18

141

159

3900

4875

Odomola

-

260

260

6240

7800

Accor ding to the r eport of Challenge Inter national Associates(2006), the capital cost for Iju and Adiyan intake and headwor ks is $19.35m, the extension of IPP supply to Ij u headw or ks being $2,307, 692.30 while the oper ation and r unning cost for Akute is $100, 800/day.
3.0 CURRENT GLOBAL BEST PRACTICES IN W ATER SUPPLY AND MANAGEMENT

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i. Rapid urbanization cr eated a str ong demand for the output of water supply/wastewater tr eatment pr oj ects. The rapid urbanization in Lagos State should gear us to ensure our projects are successful.

ii. Community participation in the des ign, constr uction and operation and maintenance of sub-pr oj ects which led to socio-economic benefits to the local people. Pr oj ect formulation

involved extensive consultation with local gover nment staff, local NGOs, r epr esentatives of indigenous people and other beneficiar ies while addr essing ther e concer ns about the impacts of water supply and sanitation pr oj ects.

iii. Decentralization which has helped local gover nments and r esidents to be incr easingly involved in undertaking cost-r ecovery measur es, tar iff r eviews.

iv. Ability to learn fr om past lessons and incor porate the lessons in pr oj ect design. This helped them to

design projects in a cost-effective manner.

v. The pr oj ects typically (1) wer e r un by financially
self-sustaining water supply institutions, (2) put in place WUCs(Water User Committees), and (3) adopted the ‚user pays‛ principle.

vi. Technical innovation and envir onmental pr otection. Induced r echar ging of water r esour ces using an infiltration basin w as pioneer ed in the Philippines under a ADB

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pr oj ect. Ther e w as significant r eduction in untr eated wastewater allow ed to flow back to the ecosystem which pr omoted r ational use of water r esour ces and impr oved the quality of fr eshwater and coastal ecosystem.

vii. Pr oper O&M (Operation and Maintenance) helped ensur e long-r un sustainability. Beneficiary participation r esulted in a str onger sense of

ow nership and willingness to accept some
O&M r esponsibility and to pay higher tar iffs.

viii. EAs (Executing Agencies) w er e committed, highly

involved in proj ect implementation, support ed by institutional str engthening and training activities, and pr ovided w ith counter part funds in a timely manner .

ix. Consultants and contr actor s per formed well.

x. Regular ADB monthly r eview and co-ordinating

meetings among EAs and implementing agencies pr oved to be a pr oactive and effective mechanism for pr omoting expeditious
pr ocur ement activities, cost savings and r esolving pr oblems.

xi. The pr oj ects w er e pr o-poor which helped in poverty r eduction, gr eater pr oductivity and impr oved healthcar e.

3.2 BENCHMARKING, PERFORMANCE INDICATOR AND BALANCED SCORECARD IN W ATER INDUSTRY The incr easing involvement of the public has made a gr eater demand on utility leaders for a better level of efficiency, effectiveness and competitiveness in the water and w astewater industries. Further mor e, the absence of competitive mar ket pricing makes it impossible to determine dir ectly the quantity, quality and the level of ser vice pr ovision to be supplied. The use of benchmar king in the water industry has been studied by Hubert & Smeets(2000) and Helland and Adamsson(1999) wher e it has b een found useful in the Nordic countr ies of ‘6 Cities Gr oup’ compr ising Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Gothenbur g and Malmo and also The Nether lands.
Though the benefits of benchmar king has not been fully r ealized in practice in the water and wastewater industry ow ing to difficulty in normalizing data, concer ns about their use and effectiveness and difficulty in definitions, which is differ ent fr om accounting definitions, it has also been found useful in some Eur opean countr ies such as Austr ia, Finland, Italy and Switzer land, South Afr ica(Par ena & Smeets, 2001) wher e they wer e initiated by the government, National Water Associations, independent
consultants or companies in the water and wastewater industry.
Benchmar king is of two forms namely, metr ic benchmar king and pr ocess benchmar king. Metr ic benchmar king deals w ith identifying ar eas of underper formance r equir ing changing the way things ar e done while pr ocess benchmar king is the vehicle for achieving this change thr ough assimilation of best practices.
Accor ding to Amer ican Water W or ks Association(1996),
Benchmar king is ‘ a systematic pr ocess of searching for b est
practices, innovative ideas, and highly effective operating pr ocedur es that lead to s uper ior per formance and then adopting those practices, ideas and pr ocedur es to impr ove the per formance of one’s own or ganisation’. Benchmar king can be done via self assessment, peer r eview or the use of consultants.
The per for mance indicators for benchmar king w hich ar e germane to the water industry include: pr oduction, distr ibution, envir onment, customer service, financial and economics, customer or ientation, water quality, planning, networ k operation methodologies, level of service and operational per for mance, engineer ing and pur chasing pr ocesses, or ganizational, technical and mar ket pr ocesses(Par ena & Smeet, 2001).
Fr om the above lists, the four main items that gives a
complete and b alanced pictur e of the utility’s per formance ar e: Water quality, Service, Envir onment, Finance and Efficiency.
Since it w as difficult to pr ovide comparable data on quality,
ser vice and envir onmental aspects, a mor e practical approach , a financial model was adopted which included four costs namely: taxes, capital costs, depr eciation and amor tization and oper ational costs.
The benefits of benchmar king ar e enormous and include:
1. Investigating the r elations and corr elations betw een pr ocesses or functions in order to check achievable cost savings and impr ove efficiency
2. It helps to b enchmar k the management of pr oj ects,
of know how , or r esour ces and of investment r eturn.
3. It is used by donor s as a compar ative r efer ence to determine the r elative and operational per formance efficiency of borr ow ers and to set yar dstick per formance tar gets for borr ow ers against industry best practices.
4. It helps in identifying ar eas w ith potential for per formance impr ovement; pr omote suggestions about or ganizational str uctur es and r elated contr ol systems, mor e apt to over come

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per formance limitations while boosting r ediscussion of r oles, functions and pr ocedur es.
5. It pr ovides decision maker s with an over all
perception of the utility per formance as a str ong support in making strategic choices.
6. The application of Per formance Indicator to the Water Supply Systems by IW A (Alegr e et al, 2000) is based on demanding and r ealistic obj ectives.
Albeitly, it has been found that the use of percentages by volume for NRW (Non-Revenue Water ) is unsuitable for r egulation, envir onmental pr otection, contract supervision, financial optimization and oper ational management.
Internationally, the use of ILI (Infrastructural Leakage Index) and Banding System has been adopted. The ILI is a dimensional r atio of Curr ent Annual Real Losses(CARL) to the Unavoidable Annual Real Losses(UARL)(Lambert et al,
1999, Liember ger , et al, 2005). It has the advantage of identifying not only what the curr ent losses ar e, but also permits an initial estimate of the maximum potential for
r eduction in r eal losses at the curr ent pr essur e. Developed countries w ith good infrastr uctur e conditions have an ILIs of 1.0 w hile developing countr ies have ILIs in excess of 10 or even 100.
On the other hand, the banding system(Table 4), adopted
by the W or ld Bank Institute, is a matr ix appr oach to identifying a technical per formance category(Bands A to D) for a Utility’s management of r eal losses and guidance on the type of actions to be under taken by the Utility. Pr oactively, it has been endorsed and pr omoted by the South Afr ican Water Resour ce Commission, Australian
Water Ser vices Association, New Zealand Water and W aste Association and Amer ican Water Wor ks Association (2003). Wher e the density is differ ent fr om the average density of connections of 40 per km of mains, ILI is used to identify appropr iate band for the syst em under consider ation.
Table 4: Banding system for developed and developing countr ies
(Sour ce: WBI NRW Training Module 6: Per formance
Indicators, 2005)
The bands ar e inter pr eted as follows:
A- Further loss r eduction may be uneconomic unless ther e ar e shortages
B- Possibilities for further impr ovement
C- Poor leakage managem ent, tolerable only if
r esour ces ar e plentiful and cheap
D- Very inefficient use of r esour ces, indicative of poor maintenance and system condition in general
How ever , balanced scor ecar d for water supply, addr esses five main issues namely:
1. State of water r esources: This is concerned with water scarcity, w ithdrawal practices and for eign dependency.
2. Management of access to water : This highlights per centage of population with safe access to water , continuity of water supply
and estimate of UFW (Unaccounted For
Water ).
3. PSP (Pr ivate Sector Participation): This aspect
of scor ecar d beams light on pr esence of private water oper ators, estimate of population they serve, location of contr acts, type of contracts and year of intr oduction of PSP.
4. Regulator y Framew or k: This discusses
pr esence of r egulatory of agencies, effective independence, separation of pow ers and
r oles, cor poratization of local water oper ators and decentralization of water public administration.
5. Pricing Policy of Water : This addr esses finance for operation, differ entiation in local setting of tar iff, use of metering system, pr ogr essive block tar iff str uctur e and price incr ease w ith quantity used.

The application of balanced scor ecar d to the water
Technical
Per formance
Categor y
ILI Real Losses in Lits/connection/day
10m 20m 30m 40m
industr ies in the Middle East and North Afr ican coun5tr0imes has shown that for pr ivatization of the water industry to be highly successful, ther e must be a w ell-
A 1-2 <50 <75 <100
defin<e1d25r egulatory envir onment, competition and
B 2-4 50-100 75-150 100-120instit1u2t5io-n25a0l framew or k. Although pr ivatization has
C 4-8 100-200 150-300 200-400r ecor2d5e0d-50a0 significant success in Municipal w aste
D >8 >200 >300 >400
A 1-4 <50 <100 <150 <200
mana>g5e0m0 ent in Lagos State and a huge success in the teleco<m25m0 unications industry, the same is yet to be
B 4-8 50-100 100-200 150-300 200-400said 2o5f 0th-5e0w0 ater industry. Although ther e ar e various forms of pr ivate sector involvement w hich includes

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ser vice contract, management contract, lease contract , BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer ), concession, j oint ventur e and full divestitur e, Lagos State water supply has not pr ogr essed lar gely beyond that of service and management contracts which ar e the low est form of private sector involvement. Undoubtedly, this is still a far cry fr om concerted efforts needed to meet the emer ging challenges of water supply in Lagos State and it is high time an enabling envir onment was cr eated for progr essive PSP as government alone cannot grapple w ith the enormous challenges of this sector in Lagos State.
3.3 W ATER RECYCLING AND REUSE
In order to r econcile competing demands for water ,
ther e is need for expansion of the supply, management of demand mor e wisely and r esponsible use of water r esour ces. Since public water supply accounts for approximately 70% of total water demand, it pr esents a gr eat r esour ce for portable substitution. Water r euse
is a hor izontal application that pulls together the normally segr egated discipline of portable water tr eatment and w astewater tr eatment for public health and envir onmental pr otection thr ough r educing the competition for water (Durham et al, )
Appr opriately tr eated wastewater have been found applicable in agr icultur e in the Mediterranean countries owing to water scar city while in some cities in Northern Eur ope, 70% of their portable water r esour ce dur ing the summer is obtained fr om indir ect portable r euse. Evidence of successful water r euse has
been found in Australia wher e a tar get of 20% of r euse of w astewater has been set in some territor ies. Indir ect r ecycling of wastewater has been found to be safe (UKW IR, 2004) and as such wastewater r eclamation and r euse need to be embedded into integrated water r esour ce management (Bixio et al, 2005a).
The applications of water and wastewater r euse
includes amongst other s:
a. Agr icultur al irr igation
b. Urban, r ecr eational and envir onmental uses including aquifer r echar ge
c. Pr ocess water for industry
d. Dir ect and indir ect portable water pr oduction
e. Combinations of the above
The benefits of w ater r euse/r ecycling include:
1. Decr eases net water demand and adds value
to water
2. Keeps portable water fr o drinking and
r eclaimed water for non-portable use
3. Low er ener gy costs compar ed to deep gr oundwater
4. Reduce manufacturing industries cost by using high-quality r eclaimed water
5. Reduces nutr ient dischar ge to the envir onment
and loss of fr eshwater
6. Manage the r echar ge of sur face and gr ound
waters to optimize quality and quantity
7. Contr ols the pr oblem of over -abstraction of sur face and gr oundwaters
8. Incr ease local ecological benefits thr ough the cr eation of w etlands and urban irr igation
9. Integrates with all parts of the anthr opogenic
water cycle to enable cohesion between all r egulators and industr ies
For these benefits to be achieved, ther e is need for r egulatory and institutional framewor k to be put in place at state and national levels tailor ed to take advantage of water and w astewater r ecycling and r euse oppor tunities. This r equir es the development of a r elevant national water
quality and good pr actice guidelines to enable water and wastewater r euse to be implemented for all envir onmental, social, public health and other beneficial applications and these need community and stakeholder participation fr om the start.
Ther e is also need for investigating pr oj ect viability based on envir onmental, social and economic benefits while clarifying quality and r eal costs to enable viable water r ecycling and r euse pr oj ects to pr oceed (Bixio et al, 2005b).
4.0 RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION
To be able to gr apple w ith the enormous challenges of
water supply for Lagos megacity, the follow ing r ecommendations ar e made:
I. Ther e is need for a r adical change in par adigm in water supply pr oj ects’ design, implementation, monitor ing and maintenance.
II. Water supply pr oj ects should be designed to be cost-effective j ustifying the huge capital expenditur e involved and the tar iffs intr oduced should be pr o-poor and exhibit price differ entiation for the differ ent socio-economic gr oups in the state wher e necessary .
III. The water supply pr oj ects should embrace technical innovation and envir onmental pr otection which includes aquifer r echar ge since ther e is gr eater focus on gr oundwater abstraction.
IV. Wastewater r ecycling should be embedded into integr ated water management with benefits such as pr otection and conservation of fr eshwater r esour ces, amongst others. This will r equir e development of national water quality and good

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practice guidelines and model pr oj ect viability studies.
V. The funding/donor agencies should per form ther e over sight functions by co-ordinating monthly r eview meetings betw een executing agencies and implementing agencies. This w ill pr omote expeditious pr ocur ement activities, cost savings, r esolution of pr oj ect pr oblems and timely pr oj ect execution and delivery.
VI. Likew ise, qualified consultants and contractors
should be used.
VII. Encour agement and intr oduction of Pr ivate Sector Participation (PSP) in provision of w ater supply with appr opr iate, w ell-defined r egulatory envir onment, institutional fr amewor k and financial support.
VIII. Community participation and stakeholder
engagement is sine qua non to sustainable water supply in Lagos State.
IX. The use of per for mance indicator s, benchmar king
and balanced scor ecard in the water industry should be adopted for thwith as practiced in developed countr ies.
CONCLUSION
Ther e is need for a par adigm shift in addr essing the water supply challenges of Lagos State as a megacity. Though these challenges ar e enormous and multifaceted, they should motivate us to ensur e we achieve successful outcomes fr om our water supply pr oj ects. Assimilation and adoption of best pr actices
fr om developed countries and entr enchment of effective pr oj ect management by all stakeholders w ill go a long way in ensuring sustainable water supply for the teeming water demands of the state. Furthermor e, water r esour ces management should embrace envir onmental pr otection which will help in conser vation and pr eservation of fr eshwater r esour ces while cost-effectiveness and community participation should be inculcated in the design, implementation and monitor ing of w ater supply pr oj ects.
In addition, pr oper attention should be paid to the
slums and other fr inge ar eas of the state which forms the foci of population explosion. Henceforth, our water r esour ces planning and management should be pr oactive rather than being r eactive; ther eby saving huge costs and impr ove the w elfar e of the citizenry while safeguarding the w ell-being of the eco-system. Finally, government should cr eate a conducive and attractive envir onment to allow incr easing private sector involvement in the pr ovision of water

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infr astr uctur es acr oss the state. This will help the gover nment to focus on its cor e duties as w ell as cr eate employment opportunities with impr oved level of ser vice.
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Department of Civil and Envir onmental Engineer ing, Univer sity of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria.
Email: oyegokeso2002@yahoo.co.uk

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