Perception of residents on the payment for water services in Kitwe, Zambia.
Date
2022
Authors
Kabangu, Kelly
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
Kitwe’s water sector is quite peculiar since historically, part of the city’s water was supplied by
the mines almost for free and the other part was provided for by the local authority. Nkana Water
and Sewerage Company (NWSC) is the commercial utility company that provides water in the
city. It took over the water systems of the council and the mines. The company has been facing
challenges in collecting revenue especially from the high density areas. These challenges may
stem from the way residents of Kitwe perceive water. The objectives of this study were to
investigate the history of water supply in Kitwe, determine the consumption rates and payment
profile of water in different parts of Kitwe and determine the willingness to pay for water
through a perception survey of residents in different parts of Kitwe. A mixed research design was
used in this study. A sample of 300 household respondents and 16 key informants was used in
this study. Stratified random sampling was used to ensure that both former Mine and Council
townships were selected. Eight officials were selected from NWSC, two from KCC, two from
ZCCM-Investment Holdings and four from ward development committees were selected. Data
collection was done using a household questionnaire and interview guides for key informants.
Thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data from interviews with Key Informants,
some household respondent, secondary data and from observations. For quantitative data,
descriptive statistics which include frequencies, tables, graphs and percentages where generated
using SPSS IBM SPSS Statistics version 20 and Excel 2010. It was further used for inferential
statistics in calculating for association, in this case, Pearson’s Chi Square Test to test for
association between customer satisfaction and willingness to pay at 0.05 level of significance.
The findings show that the history of water supply in Kitwe has influence on some Kitwe
resident’s perception of water. Further, high consumption of water was more in low-density
areas and less in the high-density areas of the city. In terms of township payment profiles,
NWSC collected more revenue from the low density areas than the middle and high density ones.
The study also established that low levels of water service satisfaction have contributed to low
levels of willingness to pay among the residents. Furthermore, the study revealed that 77.7
percent of respondents perceived household supplied water as a commodity because of the
operation costs involved Majority, (59 percent) of the respondents felt that they were paying
more than the value of the water they received and were not willing to pay more for water
services. There was an association between service satisfaction and willingness to pay for water
(Chi-square=0.03 p <0.05). It was recommended that a lifeline water supply policy where a preset
volume of 50-60 litres of water per person per day should be provided at minimal or no cost
to the poor.
Key words: Kitwe, Urban water supply, Willingness to pay, Scarcity,
Description
Thesis
Keywords
Water supply--Kitwe , Water-supply--Zambia--Congresses. , Water resources development--Zambia--Congresses. , National Water Supply & Sanitation Council (Zambia)--Periodicals. , Sanitation--Zambia--Periodicals. , Water-supply--Zambia--Periodicals. , Water-supply--Costs--Juvenile literature.