Piped Water Systems – Rural Water Supply Network

What can the rural water sector learn from francophone West Africa?

Many countries are looking to expand rural water services and improve service levels for people living in small towns and rural areas by investing in small, decentralised piped water services. Francophone West Africa has a long history of delegating water services (usually piped) in small towns and rural areas to professional operators, both public and private.

The RWSN Secretariat in partnership with the REACH programme spent the last year investigating the experience of the delegation of rural water services and the drivers behind recent rural water policy reforms in several countries of francophone West Africa. We did a detailed desk review, and spoke to 25 experts in rural water sector in the region to understand why and how rural water policy reform happened, and what lessons can be drawn from their experiences in delegating rural water services to professional operators.

Que peut apprendre le secteur de l’eau rurale de l’expérience de l’Afrique de l’Ouest francophone ?

De nombreux pays cherchent à développer les services d’eau en milieu rural et à améliorer les niveaux de service pour les habitants des petites villes et des zones rurales en investissant dans des réseaux d’eau décentralisés et de petite taille. L’Afrique de l’Ouest francophone a une longue histoire de délégation des services d’eau potable (généralement des petits réseaux) dans les petites villes et les zones rurales à des opérateurs professionnels, qui peuvent être des associations publiques ou des opérateurs privés.

Le Secrétariat du RWSN, en partenariat avec le programme REACH, a passé l’année passée à enquêter sur l’expérience de la délégation des services d’eau et les moteurs des récentes réformes de la politique de l’eau potable en milieu rural dans plusieurs pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest francophone. Nous avons réalisé une étude documentaire détaillée et parlé à 25 experts du secteur de l’eau en milieu rural dans la région pour comprendre pourquoi et comment les réformes des politiques d’eau potable en milieu rural se sont produites, et quelles leçons peuvent être tirées des diverses expériences de délégation des services d’eau potables en milieu rural à des opérateurs professionnels.

New from WaterAid: Piped water supply services: strengthening management models in rural and small town contexts

Re-blogged from WaterAid

Many governments have set ambitious targets for reaching people with piped water services. Providing water taps in people’s homes is one way of achieving safely managed access in line with the Sustainable Development Goal for water. But installing more household taps must come with stronger efforts to professionalise service management, ensure adequate levels of support, and that services are inclusive. Without paying sufficient attention to these and other aspects, there is a risk that piped water supply services will under-perform in low income areas, resulting in poor service levels and lost investment. There are, of course, alternatives to tapped water supplies, and these should be considered where a piped service is not viable.

This publication is the second in a series focused on management models for piped water services in rural and small town settings. The first publication, Management models for piped water services, set out the factors that affect the sustainability of piped water, presenting ten different management models. This publication is a decision-making resource and is designed to help practitioners select or strengthen management arrangements for piped water supplies in different contexts. It compares the viability of the ten management models against the following four variables:

Commercial viability and economies of scale
Technical complexity, connectedness and local capacity
Sector policy, legislation and financing arrangements
Regulation and accountability mechanisms, local preferences, and ensuring inclusive services for all

Top image: Nawoli Jesca, 25, commercial officer, and Nkundizana Julius, 25, team leader of the Busolwe Piped Water Supply System check on a pipe to the main water reservoir in Butaleja District, Uganda, November 2018.