Government-civil society co-management contracts for rural water services: lessons from India

Abstract

The primary source of water for most residents of India’s nearly 640,000 villages is a handpump that extracts water from a shallow aquifer and is shared by several households. The handpumps require regular maintenance, given that mud, silt, salinity of groundwater, and usage degrade the moving parts over time. The challenge for state water authorities is to keep up with the operation and maintenance (O&M) of numerous handpumps. State water authorities have, therefore, shifted to contracting out the O&M activities to non-state actors including civil society organizations (CSOs) and private contractors. This study compares handpump O&M service outcomes of a co-management contract between the state water authority of Gujarat, India, and a community-based CSO with that of a standard contract between the state water authority and a private (non-CSO) contractor. We find the quality of handpump repair and maintenance in villages served by the CSO contractor to be better than that in villages served by the private contractor. Repair times for handpumps used by lower caste households are significantly lower in CSO-served villages suggesting that engaging CSOs can bring about equity in access to water. We also find that service quality significantly reduces the time spent collecting water thus increasing the overall welfare of rural households. We conclude that innovative contractual relationships such as co-management contracts between states and CSOs can prove to be an effective tool in providing, managing, and expanding public services, and enhancing the welfare of rural households.