Sustainability of rural water services in rural Sub-Saharan Africa environments: developing a Water Service Sustainability Index

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Dang Mvongo ◽  
Célestin Defo ◽  
Martin Tchoffo
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Water Services ◽  
Water Service ◽  
Sustainability Index ◽  
Rural Water ◽  
Sub Saharan

scholarly journals Why prepaid technologies are not a panacea for inclusive and sustainable rural water services in Tanzania?

Water Policy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 925-942
Author(s):  
Hans C. Komakech ◽  
Lukas Kwezi ◽  
Mansoor Ali
Keyword(s):  
Cost Recovery ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Water Services ◽  
Revenue Collection ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Operation And Maintenance ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Rural Water ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
One Year

Abstract Poor sustainability of rural water schemes is a major problem in service delivery in sub-Saharan Africa. About half of the schemes fail one year after commissioning, mostly due to poor operation and maintenance. Many communities fail to collect and manage water revenue. Prepaid technologies are argued to remedy the poor water revenue management. However, it is not clear to what extent prepaid systems can contribute to the sustainability of rural water schemes. This paper assessed the performance of three different cases where prepaid technologies were used in Tanzania. Although the technologies used can simplify water revenue collection, they are not a panacea to deliver sustainable and equitable water services. The capital cost of the prepaid system is often paid for by donors, which is not being recovered, hence the notion of cost recovery is biased here. Also, a strong institutional capacity and knowledge is required alongside the technology. Therefore, the technology which is being promoted as better for improving cost recovery is, instead, causing a burden on water users.

scholarly journals Assessing Future Water Demand and Associated Energy Input with Plausible Scenarios for Water Service Providers (WSPs) in Sub-Saharan Africa

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2169
Author(s):  
Pauline Macharia ◽  
Nzula Kitaka ◽  
Paul Yillia ◽  
Norbert Kreuzinger
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Energy Input ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Water Losses ◽  
Water Service ◽  
Current State ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Sub Saharan

This study examined the current state of water demand and associated energy input for water supply against a projected increase in water demand in sub-Saharan Africa. Three plausible scenarios, namely, Current State Extends (CSE), Current State Improves (CSI) and Current State Deteriorates (CSD) were developed and applied using nine quantifiable indicators for water demand projections and the associated impact on energy input for water supply for five Water Service Providers (WSPs) in Kenya to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach based on real data in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, the daily per capita water-use in the service area of four of the five WSPs was below minimum daily requirement of 50 L/p/d. Further, non-revenue water losses were up to three times higher than the regulated benchmark (range 26–63%). Calculations showed a leakage reduction potential of up to 70% and energy savings of up to 12 MWh/a. The projected water demand is expected to increase by at least twelve times the current demand to achieve universal coverage and an average daily per capita consumption of 120 L/p/d for the urban population by 2030. Consequently, the energy input could increase almost twelve-folds with the CSI scenario or up to fifty-folds with the CSE scenario for WSPs where desalination or additional groundwater abstraction is proposed. The approach used can be applied for other WSPs which are experiencing a similar evolution of their water supply and demand drivers in sub-Saharan Africa. WSPs in the sub-region should explore aggressive strategies to jointly address persistent water losses and associated energy input. This would reduce the current water supply-demand gap and minimize the energy input that will be associated with exploring additional water sources that are typically energy intensive.

Cost determination and sustainable financing for rural water services in sub-Saharan Africa

Water Policy ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 373-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter A. Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Water Services ◽  
Innovative Strategies ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Cost ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Cost Determination ◽  
Sustainable Financing

Access to safe, sufficient and affordable water in rural Africa will not increase unless sustainable financing strategies are developed which ensure the sustainability of existing water services. There is a strong need for international donors and national governments to confront the true costs associated with sustained service provision in order to develop practicable long-term financing mechanisms. This paper presents a systematic approach that can be applied to determine the overall cost of service delivery based on respective cost estimates for operation and maintenance, institutional support, and rehabilitation and expansion. This can then be used to develop a tariff hierarchy which clearly indicates the cost to water users of different levels of cost recovery, and which can be used as a planning tool for implementing agencies. Community financing mechanisms to ensure sustained payment of tariffs must be matched to specific communities and their economic characteristics; a blanket approach is unlikely to function effectively. Innovative strategies are also needed to ensure that the rural poor are adequately served, for which a realistic, targeted and transparent approach to subsidy is required.

Utility-small water enterprise partnerships: serving informal urban settlements in Africa

Water Policy ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 443-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyrus Njiru
Keyword(s):  
Water Utilities ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Water Services ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Sanitation Services ◽  
Small Water ◽  
Urban Settlements ◽  
Quality Water ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Informal Urban Settlements

Sustainable development cannot be realised when a large proportion of people do not have access to improved water services. Indeed, despite concerted international effort and publicity made in the last two decades to increase coverage of improved water and sanitation services, the number of people without improved water and sanitation services continues to increase. Water utilities are not serving a large proportion of the urban population and small water enterprises (SWEs) have moved to fill the gap. This paper looks at the growing urban water problem and outlines the role played by SWEs in providing water services to those un-served or under-served by water utilities. Typical constraints faced by SWEs are outlined and the rationale for developing utility–SWE partnerships for the benefit of water consumers (customers) is provided. Potential opportunities for developing utility-SWE partnerships are discussed. The paper argues that utility-SWE partnerships can enable SWEs to provide affordable good quality water services to customers, while providing benefit to the utility and thus also assisting the utility to meet its mandate. The paper proposes win–win utility-SWEs partnerships aimed at achieving the objectives of utilities and SWEs while improving water services to customers in informal urban settlements of developing countries, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa.

A regional approach to optimizing the location of rural handpumps

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 493-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar S. Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Optimal Number ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Rural Water ◽  
Time Savings ◽  
Sub Saharan

Many rural water supply projects in sub-Saharan Africa are based on the installation of public handpumps. One of the key benefits of these projects is distance and time savings. Surprisingly, references to rural water planning rarely provide systematic approaches to optimizing distance-related benefits. This paper develops a conceptual model to identify the number and location of point sources that maximizes benefits to consumers, thereby serving as an aid to decision makers in identifying good alternatives. The proposed model is based on willingness to pay, a location model to identify optimal locations of sources, and a cost–benefit analysis. The model shows that as the number of sources increases, the distance between households and sources decreases but the user fee must increase to generate the revenue required to maintain them. Higher fees will dissuade households from using the point sources and hence reduce the aggregate distance savings that accrue. This suggests that there is an optimal number and location of point sources.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document