Sustainable Water Supply and Improved Sanitation for Low Income Communities

Abstract Water security, as a Sustainable Development Goal, ensures that sustainable water supply is consistently available to every individual. A water supply systems (WSS) assessment matrix was designed as a tool for assessing WSS in low-income countries; with selected urban, peri-urban and rural Nigerian communities as case studies. Sustainability of the WSS was assessed through established criteria against five sustainability factors. Sanitary surveys were conducted to evaluate the risks associated with the WSS using sanitary inspection forms, through which the sanitary risk scores (SRS) were derived. For sustainability, the WSS were ranked as Very High, High, Medium and Low Sustainability, and for SRS as Very High, High, Intermediate and Low Risk. A Sustainability and Risk Assessment Matrix (SRAM) was designed using sustainability evaluation and risk assessment for the WSS. The WSS in the rural areas are more ‘Secure’ than those in urban and peri-urban towns, and boreholes are more ‘Secure’ than hand-dug wells, but none of the public water points are scored ‘Secure’. The paper concludes that SRAM provides a cost-effective method of classification and may serve as a pre-water quality and source sustainability assessment tool, especially in low-income countries, as part of the measures to achieve water security.

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The Cost of a Sustainable Water Supply at Network Kiosks in Peri-Urban Blantyre, Malawi

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13094685 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 4685

Author(s):

Andrea B. Coulson ◽

Michael O. Rivett ◽

Robert M. Kalin ◽

Sergio M. P. Fernández ◽

Jonathan P. Truslove ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Supply ◽

Low Income ◽

Fiscal Responsibility ◽

Record Keeping ◽

Vulnerable Communities ◽

Sustainable Water Supply ◽

Sustainable Development Goal 6 ◽

The Cost ◽

The Impact

Empirical insights were made into the challenges of supplying water to communities within low-income areas of peri-urban Blantyre, Malawi. A networked public water supply is provided to those without a domestic tap via communal water kiosks managed by community-based Water User Associations (WUAs) under a government mandate. There has been considerable debate surrounding the tariff charged for water supplied to such vulnerable communities. However, research has largely failed to consider the costs of WUAs operating the kiosks and the impact on the kiosk tariff. The determination of kiosk tariffs is critical to ensuring lifeline access to a sustainable water supply under Sustainable Development Goal 6. We provide evidence of this from our experience in the field in Blantyre. In particular, we argue that sustainable kiosk running costs cannot be born solely by the end user. A number of reforms are needed to help reduce the kiosk tariff. To reduce WUA costs and the kiosk tariffs, WUAs need more training in financial record keeping and cost management, WUAs should not inherit outstanding kiosk debt upon taking over their operations, and water boards should build kiosk costs over which they have fiscal responsibility into integrated block tariff calculations and subsidize them accordingly.

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Water supply and sanitation planning model: a management tool for large Brazilian cities

Water Science & Technology Water Supply ◽

10.2166/ws.2003.0140 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 3 (1-2) ◽

pp. 469-476

Author(s):

S.R.A. Soares ◽

R.S. Bernardes

Keyword(s):

Water Supply ◽

Low Income ◽

Management Tool ◽

Urban Water ◽

Rapid Urbanization ◽

Modeling Approach ◽

Developing Cities ◽

Starting Point ◽

Water And Wastewater ◽

Water Supply And Sanitation

The sanitary problems promoted by the rapid urbanization process in developing cities are usually resulted from the absence of planning, high population concentration and inadequate water and wastewater infrastructure for low income people. Because the provision and planning of water supply and is a complex task, a modeling approach was used to enhance the understanding of the process and the aspects involved. In the development of a model, not only the technical aspects were taken into account, but other aspects related to the provision of drinking water and the water resources protection were also analyzed, such as institutional, financial, socioeconomic, environmental and public health. In the modeling process two different methods of conceptualization were used to describe the urban water flow through the water and wastewater systems linked to various aspects related to their implementation in large developing cities. The urban water systems of five large metropolitan areas in Brazil were also evaluated for the complete model. It is expected that the modeling approach developed in this paper consists of a valuable methodology for water supply and sanitation planning in Brazilian cities, and other developing cities with the same characteristics. The suggested conceptual model could, at least, provide more than a starting point for a useful urban water management tool.

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The Management Component of the Kafr El Sheikh Water Supply Project, Egypt

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1993.0175 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 27 (9) ◽

pp. 29-36 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

J. E. Rose

Keyword(s):

Health Education ◽

Water Supply ◽

Institutional Development ◽

Supply System ◽

Water Supply System ◽

Development Work ◽

Delta Region ◽

Sustainable Water Supply ◽

Finance Development ◽

Institutional Resources

The Kafr El Sheikh Water Supply Project is a comprehensive endeavour to provide the physical and institutional resources for an effective and sustainable water supply system for 2 million persons in a developing rural Governorate in the Delta region of Egypt. The paper describes the aims of the Management Component, the institutional development of an integrated water supply and sewerage company and the main activities to-date. These include training, operational improvements, health education and finance development. Further support is required until all engineering and institutional development work has been completed.

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Will Households Invest in Safe Sanitation? Results from an Experimental Demand Trial in Nakuru, Kenya

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18094462 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (9) ◽

pp. 4462

Author(s):

Rachel Peletz ◽

Caroline Delaire ◽

Joan Kones ◽

Clara MacLeod ◽

Edinah Samuel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Low Income Countries ◽

Health Concern ◽

High Quality ◽

Market Prices ◽

Price Point ◽

Improved Sanitation ◽

Sanitation Infrastructure ◽

The City ◽

Experimental Demand

Unsafe sanitation is an increasing public health concern for rapidly expanding cities in low-income countries. Understanding household demand for improved sanitation infrastructure is critical for planning effective sanitation investments. In this study, we compared the stated and revealed willingness to pay (WTP) for high-quality, pour-flush latrines among households in low-income areas in the city of Nakuru, Kenya. We found that stated WTP for high-quality, pour-flush latrines was much lower than market prices: less than 5% of households were willing to pay the full costs, which we estimated between 87,100–82,900 Kenyan Shillings (KES), or 871–829 USD. In addition, we found large discrepancies between stated and revealed WTP. For example, 90% of households stated that they would be willing to pay a discounted amount of 10,000 KES (100 USD) for a high-quality, pour-flush latrine, but only 10% of households redeemed vouchers at this price point (paid via six installment payments). Households reported that financial constraints (i.e., lack of cash, other spending priorities) were the main barriers to voucher redemption, even at highly discounted prices. Our results emphasize the importance of financial interventions that address the sizable gaps between the costs of sanitation products and customer demand among low-income populations.

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Prevalence and clustering of diarrhoea within households in India: some evidence from NFHS-4, 2015–16

Journal of Biosocial Science ◽

10.1017/s0021932020000073 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 53 (1) ◽

pp. 108-120 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Bevin Vijayan ◽

Mala Ramanathan

Keyword(s):

Water Supply ◽

Diarrhoeal Disease ◽

Household Level ◽

Individual Level ◽

Under Five ◽

Safe Water ◽

Chi Squared ◽

Improved Sanitation ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

Water Supply And Sanitation

AbstractDiarrhoeal disease is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in children and is usually measured at individual level. Shared household attributes, such as improved water supply and sanitation, expose those living in the same household to these same risk factors for diarrhoea. The occurrence of diarrhoea in two or more children in the same household is termed ‘diarrhoea clustering’. The aim of this study was to examine the role of improved water supply and sanitation in the occurrence of diarrhoea, and the clustering of diarrhoea in households, among under-five children in India. Data were taken from the fourth round of the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS-4), a nationally representative survey which interviewed 699,686 women from 601,509 households in the country. If any child was reported to have diarrhoea in a household in the 2 weeks preceding the survey, the household was designated a diarrhoeal household. Household clustering of diarrhoea was defined the occurrence of diarrhoea in more than one child in households with two or more children. The analysis was done at the household level separately for diarrhoeal households and clustering of diarrhoea in households. The presence of clustering was tested using a chi-squared test. The overall prevalences of diarrhoea and clustering of diarrhoea were examined using exogenous variables. Odds ratios, standardized to allow comparison across categories, were computed. The household prevalence of diarrhoea was 12% and that of clustering of diarrhoea was 2.4%. About 6.5% of households contributed 12.6% of the total diarrhoeal cases. Access to safe water and sanitation was shown to have a great impact on reducing diarrhoeal prevalence and clustering across different household groups. Safe water alone had a greater impact on reducing the prevalence in the absence of improved sanitation when compared with the presence of improved sanitation. It may be possible to reduce the prevalence of diarrhoea in households by targeting those households with more than one child in the under-five age group with the provision of safe water and improved sanitation.

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