The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 killed more than 800,000 individuals and displaced another two million within the span of 100 days (BBC, 2019). Following Paul Kigame’s de facto assumption of the presidency in 2000, Rwanda entered a new phase of its history: international laud and significant economic success. Today, Rwanda and President Kagame are together hailed as a global model for post-disaster planning (Mwine-Mugaju, 2019).

To maintain peace and secure the seven percent annual GDP growth that Rwanda has experienced since 2000 (on average) (World Bank Group, 2019), President Kagame ruled the ethnically-divided country with absolute, consolidated authority (Morgan Philips, 2015). Perhaps the largest consequence of Kagame’s centralized pathway to peace is the current distrust and fear that many Rwandans feel toward their government, in large part due to its history of censorship and punishment of political dissenters (Mwine-Mugaju, 2019).

This unique political reality both complicates and directs Rwanda’s water policy. On one hand, President Kagame’s authoritarian rule, which persists despite the presence of democratic institutions, yields inflexibility and undermines adaptive local water management. On the other hand, the success of President Kagame’s leadership facilitated transformative reform in the country’s resource management strategy due to: (1) the suspension of the democratic process precluding Kagame’s need to garner public buy-in, and (2) significant foreign investment and donations to reconstruct destroyed infrastructure and secure human rights.

This concept of strategic reform planning occurring in post-conflict territories is well articulated by Saleth and Dinar (2005, pp. 18): “… although endogenous factors related to resource scarcity and sector performance have remained as underlying factors, the major prompt for change comes mainly from exogenous sources such as the macro economic crisis and political reforms.” Supporting the claims of Saleth and Dinar, the Rwandan genocide served as an impetus for strategic resource management reform, which in turn expanded water access throughout the country (Twagiramungu, 2006, pp. 6). That said, as population growth occurred simultaneously and at a faster rate than new water supply projects came online, overall water accessibility rates declined in Rwanda (Republic of Rwanda: WASAC, 2019, pp. S-1; World Bank Group, 2011, p. 21). Today, three million Rwandans lack access to safe water (Bafana, 2016). Nevertheless, President Kagame’s twenty-year reconstruction plan, called Vision 2020, set the priorities for establishing peace and newfound prosperity through investment in sustainable sectors like energy and water (Twagiramungu, 2006, pp. 8). Vision 2020 set the goal of achieving universal access to clean water by 2020 (this was recently pushed back to 2024) (Tubei, 2019).

Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali, is at the center of its economic success (World Bank Group, 2017, pp. 19). As seen at the national level, however, despite its newfound economic stability, water security remains an issue in Kigali, mostly for those who reside in the city’s peripheral informal settlements, called Akajagari (Jaganyi et al, 2018, pp. 30).

Today, Kigali is home to just over one million people, but the city’s population is growing rapidly (World Bank Group, 2017, pp. 7). Many newcomers concentrate in Kigali’s informal settlements, which already house 66 percent of the city’s total population (World Bank Group, 2017, pp. 12, 14). Such rapid growth in areas that are outside of the city’s water grid places immense pressure on Kigali’s ability to provide public services like water and electricity to an increasing portion of its population (World Bank Group, 2017, pp. 8). Right now, Rwanda’s supply coverage is about 70 percent, although it is closer to 90 percent in Kigali (Water for People, 2019; World Bank Group, 2017, pp. 14). Less than 40 percent of all Rwandans have water piped into their homes (Jaganyi et al, 2018, pp. 15). ­­In Kigali, many suburban residents are served by community posts, while in further-out regions, women and children must either travel long distances to collect drinking water from natural springs or draw water from nearby, polluted swamps (Republic of Rwanda: MLEFWNR, 2004, pp. 7; Isugi, 2018). While Kigali’s persistent water shortage is driven primarily by population growth in informal settlements, both infrastructure and natural vulnerabilities also threaten the developing city’s ability to improve water accessibility.

Kigali’s (and Rwanda more generally) water supply model is built entirely on the natural hydrologic cycle. The country’s water supply originates from a combination of ground and surface water sources. Rwanda’s surface water sources are divided between two hydrographical basins: the Congolese Basin (delivering 10 percent of water resources) and the Nile Basin (delivering 90 percent of water resources). The latter Nile Basin serves Kigali and is sourced primarily by the Nyabarongo River. There are 22,000 groundwater sources in Rwanda, none of which are monitored consistently (Twagiramungu, 2006, pp. 15-16). These water sources are replenished solely through local rainfall, which historically is distributed fairly evenly throughout the year (Twagiramungu, 2006, pp. 12). In more recent years, however, climate change is causing diminished rainfall and longer, more frequent droughts (Twagiramungu, 2006, pp. 17). Since Rwanda’s water supply is completely rainfall-dependent, this type of climatic uncertainty poses a severe threat to water security.

Kigali’s water supply is further limited by its water production capacity and water grid (Republic of Rwanda: WASAC, 2019, pp. S-6). For many neighborhoods, water distribution infrastructure either never existed, was destroyed in the genocide, or has not been updated since its construction in 1981 (Republic of Rwanda: WASAC, 2019, pp. S-12). Wetland preservation (Kabenga and Ogbonnaya, 2017) and investing in new facilities have been the city’s primary strategies to expand supply coverage, most notably demonstrated by the Kigali Bulk Water treatment plant currently under construction to the south of city limits as well as the new Nzove II water treatment plant also in Kigali (Tubei, 2019; Republic of Rwanda: WASAC, 2019, pp. S-3). Of course, the water treated through these plants is only available to those who are located along its distribution grid, which does not include the poorest informal dwellers living on the city’s northern wetlands (Nikuze et.al, 2019; Republic of Rwanda: WASAC, 2019, pp. S-10). More likely, the water treated at these new or upgraded plants will be allocated predominantly toward corporate users to support the development of new commercial hubs in Rwanda’s growing secondary cities, as in Kigali’s Nyarugenge district (Nkurunziza, 2019; Sullivan, 2014).

There are numerous other vulnerabilities in Kigali’s water supply system: including the fact that very little wastewater is treated and reused; there is virtually no use of rainwater harvesting despite the city’s favorable year-round precipitation; and the city still experiences widespread poverty that in turn limits private funding for its water sector (Nzohabonimana, 2019; Republic of Rwanda: MLEFWNR, 2004, pp. 16). Finally, Rwanda is a landlocked, resource-poor country; water accounts for eight percent of its total surface area (Twagiramungu, 2006, pp. 2). This geographic condition has historically forced Rwanda’s cities to import nearly all its energy. As a result, large-scale, energy-intensive water supply augmentation strategies are unlikely to be cost-effective. With manufactured water and large-scale distribution network extensions demanding exorbitant financial investment due to their energy dependence, which is not made easier by Kigali’s hilly terrain, and with a completely rainfall-dependent system vulnerable to more intense droughts, Rwanda should diversify its water supply portfolio before water coverage rates decline further.

While infrastructure investments are undoubtedly a “must” for Kigali, and with some resettlement likely necessary to protect the city’s wetlands (Nkurunziza, 2019), Kigali should leverage its existing partnerships with development banks, foreign nations and local nonprofits to launch a large-scale distributed water infrastructure program. Some of the emerging water reuse technologies that could be leveraged in this program include solar water pumping, bioremediation, agriculture composting, and rainfall harvesting.

Solar water pumping has already starting to appear in Rwanda due to its favorable climate (Twagiramungu, 2006, pp. 11). This technology harnesses energy produced by the sun to pump up groundwater through a standing pipe (BUNGA Energy Ltd, 2019). The pumping system operates sans costly nonrenewable energy inputs and can be made available to informal settlements located above groundwater sources. This strategy is not perfect, however, and would require the city to monitor withdrawal to ensure sustainable groundwater yield. On the other hand, this level of tracking could be required by the development banks investing in the city-wide distributed water infrastructure program. Such a monitoring requirement could lead to a formalized system of groundwater regulation that could in turn advance greater understanding of current non-revenue water uses.

Bioremediation could also be leveraged as a tool to treat sewage and wastewater through the introduction of algae into stabilization ponds and lagoons (Omics International, 2019). The water in these wastewater catchment areas could then be made available for agriculture and some domestic use. Thirdly, Kigali could develop a basic composting system for agriculture. As with solar water pumping, agricultural composting is likely to succeed in Kigali as the city’s soil types are ideal for absorbing water in composted materials (Twagiramungu, 2006, pp. 12). Finally, rainwater, most which is not currently captured or treated (Republic of Rwanda: MLEFWNR, 2004, pp. 16), could be channeled down the city’s hilly terrain to lower-lying treatment and distribution networks without relying on energy inputs.. As mentioned, Kigali does have a climate where rain is generally well-distributed throughout the year and its annual precipitation rates are equal to Philadelphia’s at just under 40 inches (World Weather and Climate Information, 2019).

While investments in new treatment plants will only increase per capita consumption for those who are already connected to Kigali’s supply grid, a distributed water infrastructure program will expand water access to those living in Kigali’s peripheral informal settlements, many of whom lack access to clean water altogether. Development banks, foreign donors, and nonprofits have already shown explicit interest in tackling Rwanda’s inextricably linked water security, public health and human rights issues. Additionally, the monitoring requirements often imposed by development banks can foster ongoing communication between Kigali residents (particularly those in informal settlements) and the Rwandan government. Such a program could be piloted in Kigali and replicated throughout Rwanda’s rural communities, which face considerably worse access to clean water. In turn, this program will progress Kigali, and Rwanda more broadly, toward its goal of achieving universal water access in the next four years.

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