Reposted from IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre: see the original post here. The article is written by Digbijoy Dey and reviewed by Ruchika Shiva. Photo: IRC.
Rural water supply services are evolving quickly because of technology, climate stress, financing models, and governance changes. And these changes differ from country to country and within countries. However, the changes have some common characteristics as well, at least in lower middle-income countries. During our recent visits to Nepal, we have tried to understand the dynamics of rural water supply in this country. Here rural water supply essentially includes small urban and rural municipalities.
Common trends in rural water supply
Recent research and publications have documented the changing models of rural water supply, including Shiva and Saha (2025), Odhiambo et al. (2025), USAID (2023), and SFF (2020). An AI-assisted trend analysis based on these works highlights several shifts. Globally, rural water supply is moving from handpumps to piped schemes, as exemplified by India’s Jal Jeevan Mission and Ethiopia’s HoA-GW4R Project. Management is becoming more professionalised through private operators, public–private partnerships, and utility-style agencies, replacing traditional community-based volunteer committees. At the same time, digitalisation is transforming service delivery with Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, prepaid meters, and mobile payment systems that improve monitoring, detect leaks, and enhance cost recovery.
Other major trends include the integration of climate resilience and source diversification, such as combining groundwater, rainwater harvesting, and surface water treatment with climate-proofed infrastructure and energy-efficient pumping. Solar-powered and hybrid renewable energy systems are replacing diesel pumps, while water safety planning, real-time quality monitoring, and low-cost treatment are gaining ground. Financial sustainability is being strengthened through volumetric tariffs, prepayment, and blended finance, while regionalisation is clustering small schemes under federated utilities. Equity and inclusion are also central, with greater focus on women, marginalised groups, and people with disabilities. Finally, rural water networks are increasingly designed for multiple uses, linking drinking water to irrigation, sanitation, and livelihoods.
Why Nepal is different
Nepal has a population of about 30 million, 23 million of them live in rural areas, mostly in mountainous and remote regions. As per JMP 2024, 77.2% of the population is accessing basic drinking water services, only 16.5% of the population access safely managed drinking water (the remaining 6.3% have limited or unimproved services). With an aspiration to deliver reliable services, Nepal is trying to change its water service delivery ecosystem. If we look closely, we will see that the trends in Nepal are similar to those mentioned above. The difference is, while most countries are adopting more professionalised private or utility-managed services, Nepal is embracing a more formal version of community-managed services to address the rural water need. Historically, water supply in rural areas of Nepal has been managed voluntarily by the community. At present, the Water Users’ and Sanitation Committees (WUSCs) are being formalised into legal entities under sector laws.
Continue reading “Moving towards professionalised community managed rural water schemes in Nepal”
Rural Water Supply Network - blog 