Rural households in Rwanda pay up to four times as much as their urban counterparts for a cubic metre of water.

While a cubic metre from Water and Sanitation Corporation (Wasac) goes for Rwf323, rural families pay between Rwf300 and Rwf1,100 more to buy water from private water operators.

This means that despite government’s efforts to achieve total access to clean water by 2017, the majority of rural poor and low-income earners still find the current bill beyond their means.

Operators blame the situation on the huge cost of operating decades-old rural water supply systems, many of which are too old to spur production alongside needed expenses on electricity and diesel to run water pumping stations.

“Many water networks date back to the 1980s and have never been upgraded, so the main problem is low production and water losses. For instance if I spend diesel to extract say 300,000 cubic metres and fail to trace the whereabouts of 100,000 cubic metres, I remain with 200,000 which isn’t even enough to pay the amount of diesel used,” said engineer Cyprien Sebikwekwe, managing director of Ayateke Star Company Ltd which supplies water in over five districts.

“I don’t think the tariffs will change anytime soon unless some subsidies are provided, because they are informed by expenses incurred in fuel, operation, maintenance, staff payments and taxes which are extremely high given the current condition of available networks,” added Mr Sebikwekwe who also chairs the forum of private operators in the rural water and sanitation sector.

Unlike Wasac tariffs which are set by the national utilities agency, RURA, the rural water supply services are regulated by respective district authorities through contracts with private operators under public private partnership (PPP) arrangement.

For instance, despite existing tariffs indicating that a flat fee on one cubic metre at public taps stands at Rwf323 in Kigali and across other towns where Wasac operates, residents of Kirehe pay Rwf1,400, Rwf1,250 in parts of Kayonza, Rwf1,125 in Nyabihu while Rwamagana and Rulindo residents get charged Rwf900 per cubic metre.

Tariffs are however lower in districts like Nyaruguru whose landscape enables supply by gravity, according to Joseph Usabimana, manager of Aquavirunga Ltd, the company supplying water across both Rubavu and Nyabihu districts in western Province.

Residents in areas that require pumping stations pay a much higher fee owing to expenses on fuel and electricity, costing Rwf948 a litre and Rwf213 per kilowatt respectively.

“We have landscapes where we are required to put up three consecutive diesel-run pumping stations before we can start pipe distribution. That alone costs us between Rwf3 million to Rwf5 million per month. This is the case of Nyabihu where we sell at Rwf1,125 per cubic metre,” he said.

Analysts say until government makes a substantial intervention to lower the prices, low-income rural families could continue to feel the pinch of hiked water tariffs potentially forcing some to resort to unsafe sources of water supply.

“Wasac prices are low because they are set by government which gives it all sorts of subsidies. It would be like subsidising the rich to the detriment of the poor if tariffs remain very high in the rural areas,” said a local expert.

Early August, Members of Parliament had questioned the regulatory oversight over the PPP arrangements based on which tariffs for rural water supply services are set, with some alluding to cases where fees are too hiked to be afforded by the average Rwandans.

Lawmakers who had met the Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi regarding government activities in the area of water and sanitation, directed government to look into the matter.

Attempts to get a comment from Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency were futile by press time. However, sources told Rwanda Today that the utilities regulator is set to meet all private operators in the water supply services to decide possible adjustments.