6. South Africa-Catchment-Methodologies-RIDe
6.3.
Resource, Infrastructure, Demand and Entitlements
(RIDe) framework
This section describes the Resource, Infrastructure, Demand and Entitlements (RIDe)
framework that can be used to structure investigations that require users to address both
water resources and water supply issues.
6.3.1. Background
The Resource, Infrastructure, Demand and entitlement (RIDe) analytical framework was
developed to help deal with the need – set out in both South African and Indian contexts
(4.1 India-Village-Context and 6.1 South Africa-Catchment-Context) – for a framework
to support systematic, problem focussed analyses of the links between water resources,
and the needs of water users (primarily of domestic water, but also irrigated agriculture,
forestry and the environment).
In the South African context, the framework was used specifically to provide answers
that helped the project team clarify their conceptual understanding of the key issues
arising in the catchment. Understanding that was crucial to the larger process of
supporting the stakeholders in developing and managing their water resources. The
principal questions addressed included:
 How can the concept of Basic Human Needs Reserve be operationalised and
understood in terms both of water resource availability, and supply infrastructure?
 To what extent can the resources of the catchment be further developed while
respecting the Ecological reserve?
 What are water resource and infrastructure requirements and implications of different
development scenarios in the Sand River catchment
6.3.2. The RIDe analytical framework
RIDe is a simple framework with generic application. It is based on the understanding
that water resources are linked to people by supply (and disposal) infrastructure, and that
each of these three system elements (resources, infrastructure, users) normally has its
own set of institutions, boundaries and other characteristics (Figure 6.3.1).
Figure 6.3.1 The RIDe framework
Resources
Infrastructure
The water resource
base in time and
space (quantity,
quality etc) and
institutions that
manage resources
Systems (hardware
and software) to
abstract, treat and
convey water for
different purposes,
and institutions that
manage systems.
Demand (and
entitlements)
The requirements of
people/ users, and
the institutions that
represent them
Resources
Resources are the water resources needed to meet the demand of users. Abstraction and
supply of this water depends upon the infrastructure that sits in between water resources
and users, so we can also talk of meeting the demand of water supply infrastructure.
Because of conveyance and other losses such as illegal abstractions from pipelines or
canals, the infrastructure demand may be quite different to the actual demand of legal
users. Resources can be assessed in a number of ways, but typically as some combination
of availability (quantity and quality) in space and time. Given that access to or use of
water resources may be regulated, assessment of water resources needs also to take
account of water policy and the institutions that have responsibility for managing and
regulating use of water resources (including their capacity and effectiveness). Other
factors that need to be considered when assessing resources are the potential impacts of
short or long term land use and/or climate change and the potential impacts on water
quality of agricultural intensification, demographic change and industrialisation.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is the means by which water is conveyed from the resource to users, and
returned (often at lower quality) to the resource base1. It refers to both the physical
infrastructure (hardware) and systems and institutions (software) necessary to make this
happen, to maintain hardware and, where appropriate, to recover costs. Hardware may be
hand-pumps on bore wells, or sophisticated reticulation systems with hundreds of
kilometres of pipes and connections. However, infrastructure can also be a system for
trucking water from a treatment plant to users. Abstractions are the interface between
resources and infrastructure and can generally be represented as a point demand on a
resource.
Demand (and entitlements)
Demand (and entitlements) capture the requirements for water by users at a certain time
and place. Users can be considered as individuals, or groups. They may require water
for irrigation, domestic, industrial or other uses. The environment is also a user, with
specific needs of its own. Looking at user requirements will typically involve dealing
1
Return flows can include raw or treated waste water from domestic systems, irrigation return flows,
drainage from mining operations etc.
with a range of (frequently fuzzy) figures. These may include: legally or policy driven
minimum entitlements to domestic drinking water; entitlements established by
abstraction licences or water rights; minimum ecological flows; actual water use;
unsatisfied demand; etc. Demand and entitlements are constrained by legal, economic,
and social barriers. Demand is also hugely variable across users and time, and
importantly, the water use of any single user is impacted by the demands of other users.
6.3.3. Using the RIDe framework in the Sand
The RIDe framework is conceptually simple. Putting it to use can however become
complex as set out in the process section (6.2 South Africa-Catchment-Case Processes).
In the Sand, the RIDe framework was used to guide a process of data collection and
analysis, followed by scenario testing and development of outputs for use in the
stakeholder processes. Initially used primarily by the project team, it also helped in
identifying the key groups of stakeholders to involve in subsequent feedback and scenario
building work.
Data collection
Data was collected from wide variety of sources as illustrated in the table below. It was,
as far as possible, quality controlled and checked for internal consistency before being
analysed.
Table 6.3.1 Sources of data
Component of
RIDe
Water resources
Infrastructure
Demands
entitlements
and
Type of information/data


Source of information/data
Run-off data
Groundwater
availability data
Location, layout, and design
data for:
 Bulk domestic schemes
 Irrigation canals
 Boreholes
 Intakes
 Dams
 Basic entitlement and
demand (calculated)


User surveys


Ecological reserve


Estimates of crop water
use
Estimates of forestry
related flow reductions








National WR-90 dataset; limited observational
data
No data available, only rough estimates
DWAF infrastructure data
abstraction licensing data
Consultants reports
Save the Sand surveys
bases
and
The Basic entitlement was taken to be the free
basic water minimum of 25lpcd; Potential
domestic demand was assumed to be higher,
and in scenarios ranged from 80 – 100 lpcd
Actual water being received was estimated
based on limited user surveys in a few
villages.
The ER was estimated based on required flow
duration curves.
Irrigation demand was based on DWAF
calculations of crop water use
Stream flow reduction by forestry was based
on WR-90 calculations.
The key concept in undertaking the water audit, based on experiences in India, was to
rely as much as possible on secondary data, and minimise primary data collection. In
addition, as a secondary aim was to develop a generic methodology that could be used for
rapid assessments and analysis more widely within South Africa we also decided, where
possible, to make use of national data sets (such as the WR-90 surface water data-set used
to provide inputs into our water balances).
Collecting secondary data is not itself and easy task in rural South Africa. The legacy of
apartheid means that records are poor and scattered. To find out about existing
infrastructure in the Sand meant repeated visits to the offices of consultants, local
government and DWAF. Even then, the quality of information found was often low, with
much contradiction between different data sets. For domestic water supply, later
comparison to what really existed on the ground was startling, with villages that in theory
had supply capacity of hundreds of litres per person per day, but where in fact people
struggled to get ten.
Irrigation data was, if anything, even less precise. No monitoring is carried out on actual
abstraction, and canals are generally poorly maintained. We were reduced to carrying out
secondary estimates based on potential irrigated areas, resulting in figures for irrigation
water use that have high degree of uncertainty.
Initial modelling using a spreadsheet
Initial analysis of the RIDe data was carried out using MS Excel. This consisted of
quaternary level aggregation of data, and water balance analysis. Analysis was initially
carried out on median and lower quartile natural flows. Subsequently a simple ‘tipping
bucket’ model was developed and run for a 70 year data set. The ability of water
resources to meet domestic requirements (under different service levels), the ecological
reserve and other uses was investigated under different scenarios. A limitation of the
approach was that the model lacked the resolution to investigate the extent to which
individual communities needs could be met by existing or possible future water supply
infrastructure.
Further modelling using Aquator: scenario testing
In a second round of modelling, the Aquator software package was selected to do a more
precise modelling of water resources, infrastructure and use for the Sand River
Catchment. Aquator carries out a water balance for all demands in the catchment and the
catchment as a whole. Specific infrastructure elements can be defined and parameterised,
such as boreholes, river intakes, irrigation systems and drinking water supply systems.
Individual communities (and other water users) can have their service level observed
directly. In this way it perfectly matches the requirements for applying a RIDe approach.
The principal use of the Aquator model was to finesse and deepen the study of differing
water development, but more importantly to test different potential future use and
management scenarios a critical step in the use of the RIDe framework (and the water
audit data and models).
6.3.4. Shaping scenarios and presenting the findings
Scenarios were developed for a range of different possible futures for the catchment,
including different domestic water supply service levels, and various configurations of
forestry and irrigated agriculture were then run through the different models, to look at
their sustainability and practicality in terms of meeting people’s needs for domestic water
and respecting environmental flow requirements.
Initially these scenarios were developed by the project team – including the partners from
AWARD involved in the save the Sand project. These scenarios were based on
consultation with stakeholders, but on an individual basis – not as part of a larger group
scenario building exercise.
Initial experiments with presenting the findings to stakeholders are described in the next
section, but in summary it was found that model output in the form of graphs or tables
was very difficult for any but the most technically savvy stakeholders to follow, and that
considerable effort was required to mediate the results to a level where people cold react
on the findings of the modelling.
In this sense a major lesson of the application of the RIDe framework (and the various
analytical tools linked to it) is that it needs careful mediation and facilitation by an
experienced team. It was only once the findings of the exercise had been taken up and
digested by the Save the Sand outreach team that they were made into a really useful
form for stakeholders.
The steps of collecting, quality controlling, analysing and scenario testing set out above
did not in practice happen in such a clear or linear manner. The reality was highly
iterative, with analysis and modelling highlighting the need for new data, and
information.
For the purpose of identifying the broad issues of water resource availability and (over)
allocation, both the spreadsheet and AQUATOR model performed well. However, the
commercial model was chosen specifically because it allowed the linking, in a graphical
modelling environment, of resources to communities and the explicit modelling of supply
infrastructure. The software package is not particularly complicated in its use, but
nevertheless requires a background in modelling skills: and a visit was made to the
person who developed the model for support in setting it up. In addition to which it is,
by South African standards, expensive. In that sense, it is probably not a model that is
likely to be used by local or regional planners as it requires too much computing skills.
Consulting firms that advise local and regional government could well use the model, as
they typically have these skills in house.
6.3.5. Development of outputs from the RIDe analysis
The final stage of the application of the RIDe framework was feedback to the user groups
in the Sand. To do this information from the analysis was processed in different ways
into graphs, tables, and simple scenario descriptions. Some of the drawbacks and
problems encountered in this process are described in more detail in [link to SA training]
6.3.6. Lessons learned
The most powerful implication of the RIDe approach, and its application in the Sand was
the clarity it gave the project team in understanding the logic of resource and supply
issues, and linking them. We used it primarily to shape our data collection, analysis, and
scenario building, but of equal importance was the support it gave us in identifying which
groups of stakeholders to involve at different stages of the processes set out in.
The approach, with its emphasis on linking analysis across scales and sectors helped to
highlight a number of critical issues in the development of water resources in the Sand.
These included:
 That failure to meet domestic water supply entitlements was primarily due to poor
design and management of infrastructure – not to absolute resource shortage
 That the water resources of the catchment are clearly over-allocated if the
ecological reserve is to be met
 That groundwater is a chronically overlooked and under-developed resource
 That a planned bulk transfer scheme into the Sand river, planned to meet domestic
demand, will have almost no impact on domestic water supply due to its location
(downstream of domestic water supply off-takes) without huge (and unplanned)
investment in bulk water supply networks.
This last point illustrates most graphically the strength of the RIDe framework. In
retrospect it seems extraordinary that a large and expensive inter-basin transfer scheme
could be considered without the respective agencies responsible for water resource
management and domestic water supply coordinating. Yet this is the case. The transfer
will, in effect, cut the catchment in two – an upper water stressed portion, and a lower
water rich portion. With the bulk of human use occurring in the upper half!
Perhaps the greatest lesson of the application of RIDe as it was used in South Africa, is
that the sort of complex modelling activities undertaken need a great deal of careful and
time-consuming mediation to be understood by the vast majority of catchment
stakeholders. Mediation can be helped by using the RIDe conceptual model itself to
explain to stakeholders the links between their and other’s areas of interest and concern.
Work on turning the outputs of complex mathematical models, into user friendly decision
support materials is only jus starting. A particular problem is in introducing essential
statistical concepts to a lay audience. Critical because without them it is impossible to
deal with the underlying variability and uncertainty related to water resource related
issues.
We feel that the RIDe framework represented a real step forward in the process of finding
tools to support local level stakeholder processes. But that it is a tool that requires skilled
and careful use by facilitators with a background in both water resources and stakeholder
processes.
Read more
Moriarty, P. B., Batchelor, C. H., Smits, S. J., Pollard, S., Butterworth, J. A., Reddy, G.
V., Renuka, B., James, A. J. and Malla Reddy, Y. V. 2004. Resources,
Infrastructure, Demands and Entitlements (RIDe): a framework for holistic and
problem-focussed water resources assessments. WHIRL Project Working Paper
10. NRI, Chatham.
Other references and links
Oxford Scientific Software. 2003. Aquator: Simulation of Water Resource Systems.
[online] Available at www.oxscisoft.com/aquator/index.htm (accessed 22 March
2004).