Back to the Future? Privatisation and the domestication of water in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, 1900–2000

Food, Water, and Scarcity

“…Unlike food, water historically has been treated as a common-pool or openaccess resource in many places. Markets became prominent in global water management only in the last 25 years (Bakker 2010;Strang 2004), though there are historical examples of private sector involvement in water distribution (e.g., Castro 2007;Kazimbaya-Senkwe and Guy 2007;Sawchuk 1996). Privatization reforms can theoretically range from short-term public-private partnerships to full divestiture; in practice, complete privatization of water infrastructure and assets is relatively rare (Bennett 2002).…”

Safe water, household income and health challenges in Ugandan homes that harvest rainwater

“…This was primarily because of the importance of large facilities that could enable the storage of large quantities of water throughout the dry season and which can ensure an optimum and adequate supply of sustainable safe water in households. At the same time, in local or intemational marketplaces, water is traded in large quantities as a commodity to augment national or household consumption needs and, in some countries, the supply of water is privatised to improve delivery (Gabrielyan, 2006;Marques, 2006;Hall & Lobina, 2007;Kazimbaya-Senkwe & Guy, 2007;Botto et al, 2011). This study found tank size to be statistically significant.…”

Maximizing the impact of mining investment in water infrastructure for local communities

“…While the mining company may secure the water that it requires, the local community may fail to receive clean water in sufficient quantities or through infrastructure appropriate for the area; and blame for this failure is frequently misplaced on the mining company. Both as a means of preserving reputation and as a recognition of access to clean water being a basic human right (as formally recognized in 2010 resolutions by the United Nations General Assembly [2010] Indeed, since colonial times, private water supplies provided by mining companies to many communities in regions of Africa evolved in the early days from bulk water for general requirements to a basic level at a centralised level (ensuring the mine water supply/operations were prioritised), towards entrusting and encouraging local authorities with expansion, geographical distribution, and development of a greater water supply system (Kazimbaya-Senkwe and Guy, 2007). Research by Kazimbaya-Senkwe and Guy (2007) noted the historical involvement of mining in water supplies in the Zambian Copperbelt, where early underground mining company dewatering infrastructure became de facto private water companies serving domestic water supplies in mining towns, and where mining pumps, tanks, and dams provide additional water supply capacity.…”

“…Both as a means of preserving reputation and as a recognition of access to clean water being a basic human right (as formally recognized in 2010 resolutions by the United Nations General Assembly [2010] Indeed, since colonial times, private water supplies provided by mining companies to many communities in regions of Africa evolved in the early days from bulk water for general requirements to a basic level at a centralised level (ensuring the mine water supply/operations were prioritised), towards entrusting and encouraging local authorities with expansion, geographical distribution, and development of a greater water supply system (Kazimbaya-Senkwe and Guy, 2007). Research by Kazimbaya-Senkwe and Guy (2007) noted the historical involvement of mining in water supplies in the Zambian Copperbelt, where early underground mining company dewatering infrastructure became de facto private water companies serving domestic water supplies in mining towns, and where mining pumps, tanks, and dams provide additional water supply capacity. The authors describe how these early Zambian Copperbelt mining companies chose to limit the town water service provision at a certain level yet remain engaged to ensure the local authorities and communities all understood their differentiated responsibilities to sustain, expand, and improve the service above and beyond the mining company service provision.…”