Institutional barriers to advancing Sustainable Urban Water Management
in Port Vila, Vanuatu
M. Poustie*, R.R. Brown*,**, A. Deletic*, F.J de Haan*,*
*
Department of Civil Engineering, Centre for Water Sensitive Cities, Monash University,
Clayton Vic 3800
**
School of Geography and Environmental Science, Centre for Water Sensitive Cities,
Monash University, Clayton Vic 3800
(E-mail: michael.poustie@monash.edu, rebekah.brown@monash.edu,
ana.deletic@monash.edu, fjalar.dehaan@monash.edu)
ABSTRACT
To date social research into the institutional aspects of sustainable urban water management
has predominately been conducted in developed urban contexts, resulting in a significant lack
of insight into the institutional drivers and barriers in developing urban centres, which this
research begins to address. This research project investigated the understanding, perceptions
and motivation relating to the transition to sustainable urban water management practices in
the rapidly growing urban centre of Port Vila, Vanuatu. The need for improved urban water
management, practitioners’ awareness of potential solutions, barriers and opportunities to
implement solutions were investigated through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with
more than 40 individuals who were identified as having a significant role in urban water
management from national and local government, aid and development agencies, consultants,
and the tourism sector. The data analysis revealed that in contrast to developed contexts
where socio-institutional barriers are the primary barriers to transitioning to SUWM, in Port
Vila there continue to be a number of technical barriers limiting the potential to transition.
Skills development regarding both technical and socio-institutional capacity will be essential
for enabling the transition to SUWM in Port Vila in the coming years.
KEYWORDS
developing countries, expert opinions, governance, institutional barriers, SUWM
INTRODUCTION
Throughout the developed world, and particularly in Australia and Europe, extensive
institutional and governance research has been conducted in the urban water sector. To date
this has not been matched with similar volumes or quality of research addressing issues urban
water management in developing country contexts. This paper endeavours to begin to reverse
this trend by presenting the results of a social science research project on transitions to
Sustainable Urban Water Management (SUWM) in the developing urban centres of the
Pacific region. It provides initial insights into the needs, barriers and opportunities for such
transitions in Port Vila as identified through the opinions of experts directly involved in urban
water management in Vanuatu.
Geographical, Developmental and Institutional Context
Port Vila is the rapidly growing capital city of Vanuatu, with approximately 70,000
inhabitants and an annual growth rate of more than 4%. This rapid growth is placing pressure
on the urban water system with increasing volumes of potable water demand, and correlating
increases in wastewater and stormwater production. Port Vila is a coastal urban centre
bordered by a tropical coral harbour to the west and a natural estuarine lagoon to the south
and east. These water-bodies, like all tropical waters, are naturally nutrient deficient and
highly susceptible to environmental degradation (Mosley & Aalbesberg 2003). Urban growth
is resulting in increased volumes of stormwater and wastewater entering these receiving
waters, increasing the nutrient loading resulting in associated changes in marine species
(Department of Fisheries 2011).
Port Vila can currently be considered to be in a stage of city building as it is still in the
process of establishing large infrastructure developments. This urban water infrastructure is
common in most industrialized urban centres, but lacking in many urban centres in the
Pacific. When assessed using the urban water management transition framework (Brown,
Keath, et al. 2009) Port Vila is identified as a ‘Water Supply City’: residents are provided a
reliable water supply system. However, Port Vila has no sewer system or wastewater
treatment, and a very limited and poorly functioning stormwater drainage system. The
Government of Vanuatu has highlighted urban water management as a priority action for
development in their Priority and Action Agenda 2006-2015 (Government of Vanuatu 2006).
With the support of the Asian Development Bank, the Australian Agency for International
Development and other partner organizations, Port Vila is in the middle of an extensive
review of possible developments for its stormwater and wastewater systems. This review and
associated recommendations will aim to equip Port Vila with the infrastructure which will
provide the required urban water services for the population in the Port Vila area.
The challenges facing water authorities in Port Vila to continue to provide a reliable supply
of clean drinking water to a burgeoning population, to remove and treat the required volumes
of wastewater and stormwater will require immediate and extensive attention. The
recognition of these serious challenges coupled with the need for the protection of the
groundwater sources and the environmentally fragile receiving water bodies, will require the
transition from traditional approaches to urban water management to SUWM.
Theoretical Basis
For effective transitions to SUWM it is necessary that urban water practitioners and
professionals have a high level of ‘receptivity’ to the principles and technologies associated
with SUWM (Jeffrey & Seaton 2003; Brown & Keath 2008). The receptivity framework
consists of four components: awareness, association, acquisition and application. The
awareness component regards both the level of awareness that practitioners have of the needs
for improved urban water management and potential SUWM solutions. . Unlike the previous
research conducted by Brown and Farrelly (2007) who assumed a high level of awareness,
here that assumption was not made. Rather, it is desired to gain insight into the level of
awareness amongst urban water professionals regarding the need for improved systems,
awareness of potential solutions, awareness of potential barriers and awareness of possible
opportunities. This paper only addresses the awareness component of the receptivity
framework, with the association, acquisition and application components remaining for future
research.
The urban water literature suggests that in developed nations there exist barriers to
transitioning to SUWM and that regularly these barriers are not technical, but are regularly of
a socio-institutional nature (Marsalek et al. 2001; Vlachos & Braga 2001; Brown 2005;
Brown, M. Farrelly, et al. 2009). In response to the socio-institutional barriers research has
been conducted looking at the role of structural and non-structural interventions, with
Coppock and Brown (2006) stating that in Melbourne water managers were more willing to
rely on the implementation of structural rather than non-structural modes for improving urban
water management.
While it is assumed that there will exist barriers to the transition to SUWM in developing
countries, it is hypothesised that in these contexts the barriers may be of a technical rather
than socio-institutional nature. Therefore, it is the contention of this paper that in developing
country contexts such as Port Vila there will be a significant need for structural
improvements due to a lack of infrastructure. Furthermore, that those involved in urban water
management are not equipped with the skills sets required to design or implement structural
improvements and therefore are more confident implementing non-structural improvements,
in contrast to the technical confidence of urban water professionals in developed cities
METHODS
The barriers and drivers for a transition to SUWM in Port Vila and its associated practices
were investigated through semi-structured interviews with both senior and mid-level
representatives from national government organisations, local government, the aid and
development sector, local and international consultants who were actively involved in urban
water system development in Port Vila, and representatives from the tourism sector. Over 40
practitioners were interviewed during this research project.
All participants were reassured that all opinions and responses to questions would be kept
anonymous to encourage honesty in responses and therefore improving the potential for
gaining new insight and increasing the validity of the research. The semi-structured interview
was deemed an appropriate social research method as it allowed participants to discuss in
depth about the research topic and allowed the participants to speak broadly on issues of
interest.
A number of pre-determined questions were posed to all participants, with follow up
questions seeking further insight or clarification based on participants’ responses. This paper
presents the results of the study associated with four themes considered central to the
transition to SUWM practices, namely the:
1.
Perceived need for improved urban water management in Port Vila;
2.
Knowledge and awareness of potential solutions to current urban water challenges;
3.
Perceived barriers to implementing SUWM practices; and
4.
Opinions on the future opportunities for transitioning to SUWM practices.
All questions referring to SUWM practices were asked in two parts firstly referring to
structural measures, and secondly referring to non-structural or behavioural change measures.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This section presents an overview of the central findings of this research project. Throughout
this section responses have been coded according to the stakeholder group that the
participants were associated with: national government organisations (NG), local government
(LG), aid and development organisations (AID), local consultants (LC) and international
consultants (IC), and the tourism sector (TR).
Perceived need for improved urban water management in Port Vila;
All interviewees consistently identified the urban water system in Port Vila as in need of
significant remediation and development. All interviewees highlighted the problematic nature
of the current system, identifying varying concerns and examples of under-performing
systems. A range of responses regarding the current problems and the need for improved
urban water management are presented in Table 1. It is seen that the focus is predominately
on the wastewater and stormwater services in Port Vila. Weaknesses were identified in the
water supply system regarding failure to provide water to a number of informal peri-urban
communities on the periphery of Port Vila, but otherwise there was generally satisfaction
with the water supply system, which provides drinking water of a suitable quality to Port
Vila..
When considering both structural and non-structural interventions to improve the urban water
system, it is imperative that the perceptions of local experts are sought to ensure that any
developments that are recommended from external stakeholders are developments which will
meet the perceived needs of the local urban water managers and government officials.
Table 1: Interviewee responses to the nature of problems and the need for improved urban
water management
Interviewee Respondent perspectives on current problems and needs
Category
NG
In terms of urban water, we are beginning to have lots of problems with
sanitation and stormwater in Port Vila. A lot of emphasis should be put on
that.
NG
The challenges that we have are stormwater and wastewater. There is no
treatment. That’s a really big problem.
LG
Very poor drainage, people build a road and forget about the drainage – it
goes into people’s homes and damages roads – it causes social, economical
and environmental problem.
AID
Not only the CBD but the growing periphery needs to be planned and invested
into…it really needs renewal very quickly.
LC
There are problems with septic systems. It needs to be addressed but depends
on the level of commitment from the Government.
LC
As far as tourism goes – this might kill it off….there is no more live coral left,
the fish are gone.
IC
… you have quite a large town with a legacy of infrastructure problems
because there has been no planning or implementation…these problems will
increase…
IC
there is growing recognition that the health problems associated with
sewerage disposal, flood and drainage are important
TR
I that that it (water management) is one of the biggest threats to the tourism
industry at the moment…..I think that it is a really big risk – effluent
management.
Responses displayed a high level of awareness of the current failures in the urban water
system in Port Vila, and emphasise the need for immediate action. The level of awareness
and the sense of urgency suggest that when adequate solutions to Port Vila’s urban water
issues are presented there will be adequate support from the Government to implement and
sustain them. The level of awareness and urgency also suggests that capacity training on the
issue of urban water management would be highly valued in the context of Port Vila.
Knowledge and awareness of potential solutions to current urban water challenges
Aside from the international consultants there was a low level of knowledge and awareness of
potential technical solutions to the current urban water challenges in Port Vila. Only a few
interviewees were confident in stating that they were aware any sustainable technical
solutions to the wastewater and stormwater challenges. There was more confidence amongst
Government officials in suggesting non-structural recommendations regarding to community
involvement in decision making, improved legislation and policy frameworks. The examples
below provides an overview of the structural and non-structural solutions identified by the
local interviewees (excludes international consultants and aid agencies as these were all
international interviewees rather than local knowledge and understanding)
•
•
•
•
NG
“It would be good for Port Vila to have a big wastewater system with a
treatment plant. Like in Australia and New Zealand.”
NG
“If every household can manage their stormwater in either a rainwater tank or
a soakaway pit we wouldn’t have this issue.”
NG
“Working on pollution control legislation with the view that it will come back
to the behaviours…why and how they (the public) can manage what they generate.”
LC
“We should use gross pollutant traps and sediment collection.”
Follow up questions displayed that even those who were aware of potential solutions for the
urban water problems had no experience in designing or implementing any of the structural
solutions. However, most respondents who recommended non-structural suggestions said that
they had experience with developing and implementing non-structural activities.
This trend that urban water managers in Port Vila are more confident with non-structural
measures over structural approaches is the reverse from the findings of Coppock and Brown
(2006). Coppock and Brown stated that a probable explanation for more confidence in
structural measures was the technological background of most urban water leaders. The
reverse is a probable explanation in Port Vila with the majority of those involved in urban
water management coming from a science or environmental science background and many
having attended workshops and trainings on community engagement, but noticeably lacking
in training in engineering, design and urban hydrology skills.
Overall a limited knowledge amongst national and local government staff, specifically a lack
of trained engineers has resulted in heavy dependence on external sources of knowledge
when technical decisions are required. This lack of local knowledge of possible solutions
coupled with zero experience in design, construction and implementation of structural
measures explains why despite studies and recommendations (ADB 1998) nothing has been
achieved in improving Port Vila’s urban water infrastructure over the past 14 years.
The level of knowledge amongst international consultants is very high. They each were able
to discuss multiple possible solutions ranging from highly technical to simplified, from
highly centralised to decentralized, using sustainable urban water management and water
sensitive urban design principles. However, they also verbalized that the nature of the
consultancy projects they were involved with makes it impossible to adequately train or
develop the capacity of national staff.
Perceived barriers to transitioning to SUWM practices
The interviewees consistently were able to identify numerous barriers to implementing
SUWM in Port Vila in the future. While respondents highlighted different barriers to the
implementation of SUWM in Vanuatu, the underlying barriers can all be summarised as skills
shortages, both current and historical. An overview of some of the themes identified as
barriers to SUWM in Port Vila is presented in Table 2.
Table 2: Perceived barriers to SUWM in Port Vila
Themes identified by interviewees
Historical poor town planning;
Lack of knowledge and need for better access to data;
Lack of leadership;
Poor policy, institutional and legislative frameworks;
Lack of skilled staff;
Lack of financial resources;
Poor communication and relationships between stakeholders;
Lack of clear roles and responsibilities; and
Lack of legislation enforcement.
The most commonly referred to barrier for SUWM in Port Vila was poor urban planning,
both current and historical. A lack of suitable urban planning over the past 60 years has led to
an ad hoc approach to urban development and town growth with very limited forethought
towards the impacts on future developments. Interviewees stated that while there is now
increased awareness of the connection between town planning and urban water services, there
continues to be a lack of adequately trained town planners. Currently both AusAID and the
Government are running programs related to land and town planning.
Regularly, interviewees from Government organizations, both national and local, highlighted
budget limits as barriers to furthering SUWM. However through follow-up interviews with
funding bodies, both Government funding sources and international funding sources, it
became evident that access to finances for urban water projects is not limited by a
fundamental lack of finances but an unwillingness to fund proposals which have not been
well planned or which lack the required governance structures to ensure successful
implementation. “We have resources designated to fund water and sanitation works but are
waiting to see that institutional and governance advances are occurring.” (AID)
These responses demonstrate the overall need for continued professional development
amongst urban water leaders in urban centres such as Port Vila. While technical bodies such
as the World Meteorological Services, SOPAC and UNDP run technical training workshops,
the responses demonstrate that other skills in the area of leadership, management,
communication and facilitation, reporting and project management are also critical to the
overall performance of the urban water sector. These are skill sets which have been identified
as essential for furthering SUWM in developed countries (Taylor et al. 2011) and specific
training workshops are conducted. Similarly theses skills need development within the urban
water sector in developing countries too.
Opinions on future opportunities for implementing SUWM practices
Following the discussion around the needs for SUWM and barriers to its implementation
interviewees were asked to identify future opportunities for both structural and non-structural
advancements. The interviewees indentified a range of opportunities and generally remained
very positive about the potential for improvements in the urban water system in Port Vila into
the future. Common themes referred to a growing awareness amongst the government and
decision makers; Port Vila’s size as a small urban centre; ability to source ideas, information
and guidance from developed countries; and a belief that it was not too late to avoid
irreversible environmental degradation.
NG: It is not too late. If we act now we can probably avoid following Suva Harbour.
AID: There is an increasing awareness and interest from Government.
NG: Must be diverting as much resources as possible into that (urban water) area.
LC: What is encouraging is that there is now some planning from government beginning.
The majority of interviewees highlighted opportunities for advancing the transition to SUWM
in Port Vila. However the degree of optimism was not equal across the different stakeholder
groups. Analysis of the interview data demonstrated that there were higher levels of optimism
amongst government employees than amongst consultants, aid agencies or the tourism sector.
This degree of hope and optimism was especially noticeable amongst early career
professionals in both government and local consultants.
When presented with the water management transition framework (Brown, Keath, et al.
2009) and the idea of “leapfrogging” the environmentally degrading phases of the ‘sewered
city’ and ‘piped city’ and immediately adopting principles which reflected broader
environmental protection goals and improved governance measures respondents believed that
there was willingness within Government Departments to leapfrog. Importantly it was
communicated by interviewees that they were keen and willing to learn from countries
further developed than Vanuatu and try to adapt as necessary. Respondents stated that for this
leapfrogging process to occur the urban water sector needed to act fast, set policies in place,
get support from government, increase level of awareness and education across the entire
urban population “from community to cabinet.”
Implications for practice
All interviewees regarded infrastructural developments in the wastewater and stormwater
system as essential for SUWM in Port Vila, yet all respondents also regarded the current level
of skills in Port Vila as incapable of independently designing and constructing the
infrastructure as required, therefore leading to a significant dependence on external experts in
the form of international consultants. Before greater levels of independence can be achieved
skills development at all levels will be required. However, this capacity development should
not be incorporated as part of a technical assistance project as “the nature of these projects
and their time frame makes effective skills transfers impossible” (IC), but rather as standalone
capacity training programs with adequate time and resources.
The national and local Governments in Vanuatu should be commended on the advancement
in urban water management over the past 10 years. Initiatives such as community education
through radio shows, significant World Water Day programs and other non-structural tools
are positive, but there also needs to be more of a balance between structural and nonstructural solutions. For this to occur the weak relationships and poor communication
between stakeholders needs to be addressed. This may require better use of the skill sets
within the various Government Departments and a clearer delineation of roles and
responsibilities regarding stormwater and wastewater management.
CONCLUSIONS
This social research project has begun the process of understanding the perceived needs,
barriers and opportunities for Port Vila to transition to SUWM. It has been found that the
challenges facing Port Vila’s transition to SUWM are significantly different to those facing
the transition to SUWM in developed contexts such as Australia. In Port Vila, the barriers
include both technical and institutional barriers. For SUWM to become a reality in Port Vila
it is clear that sustainable structural interventions will be required, followed by continued
non-structural and behaviour change patterns dealing with water consumption, wastewater
production, and solid waste management. Therefore the role of international consultancies,
development banks and aid agencies is to partner with national governments to enable and
equip the urban water sector with the skill and resources required to overcome these barriers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank the Government of Vanuatu for their assistance in this research. The
authors would also like to thank AusAID and the Endeavour Award Program for their funding
contributions to this research.
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