Community-managed Water Research Articles

Operational research on rural, community-managed Water Safety Plans: Case study results from implementations in India, DRC, Fiji, and Vanuatu

Water Safety Plans (WSPs) are internationally recommended risk assessment and management strategies for water delivery. However, documented outcomes and impacts from implementing WSPs are lacking, particularly for community-managed supplies. In this research, previously implemented, community-managed WSPs were evaluated in four countries through a mixed-methods protocol assessing: WSP implementation quality, WSP management via key informant interviews (KII) and focus group discussions (FGD), household characteristics, and collection-point and stored household water quality in WSP and non-WSP communities. Overall, 256 KIIs and FGDs, 816 household surveys, and 1,099 water quality samples were completed. The quality of WSP implementations scored 6–13 out of 18 possible points. KIIs and FGDs found WSP communities had improved capacity to manage water supplies and identify key risks to safe water delivery. Fewer non-WSP community households reported paying for water in DRC and Vanuatu (p < 0.001). WSP community water collection-points had more E. coli contamination than non-WSP community collection-points in DRC (p = 0.009), Fiji (p = 0.020), and Vanuatu (p = 0.004); household results varied, although exploratory analysis revealed that non-WSP communities were imperfectly matched to WSP communities. Overall, we found: 1) incomplete WSP implementations; 2) small improvements in water supply operations; and, 3) no documented microbiological water quality improvements from WSPs. These results highlight that WSPs implemented in rural, community-managed supplies are challenging and question their effectiveness; if implemented additional technical and financial resources are necessary to support community-managed WSPs.

Assessment of the sustainability of community-managed water supply services in Ghana

The study assessed the sustainability of community-managed water supply services drawing empirical evidence from a small town water supply system in Ghana. The study followed a fully quantitative research approach. Data were collected from 387 respondents who were almost all public standpipe users (98.45%) using a structured survey questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were reported, and MACBETH was the method of analysis. The study revealed that quality drinking water and reliability are the most important criteria in the opinion of survey respondents for small town water supply system. Building on this empirical understanding, the differences in importance that respondents attributed to each of these criteria were measured, and, for example, implementation of policies and public disclosure was their lowest priority. The results revealed that survey respondents believe that all criteria are currently within a range that indicates a sustainable water supply system. The paper recommend among other things that management of community-managed water supply system should be well positioned to ensure continuous water quality testing while designing drinking water quality improvement plans.

Degrees and Forms of Commercialization: Community-Managed Water Operators in Lamongan Regency, Indonesia

Globally, the water services sector has adopted commercial principles since the 1980s and 1990s. Most of the reforms based on these principles have been introduced as part of broader neoliberal reforms in these countries. Often these reforms are portrayed as being homogenous and standardized, suggesting there is a shared understanding of commercialization. However, in recent years, scholars have explored the lack of universality of these principles when comparing the implementation of these reforms across settings. Across different countries significant differences in implementation and outcomes of commercialization can be identified. In much of this literature, emphasis is placed on the differences visible in the implementation of commercialization across different geographical areas. In this article, we contribute to this literature by questioning the universal application of the principles of commercialization even within the same geographical area and actor. Using the case of community-based organizations in Lamongan Regency, Indonesia, this paper elaborates on the multiple manifestations of commercialization when documenting the actual practices of water operators. We argue that, within even the operations of these water operators, commercial principles are indeed differently implemented from the original commercial model of water provisioning. The deviations from the model can be attributed to not only local conditions under which the water providers operate, but also reflect the interests of the implementing agency and its environment. The deviations from the model of commercialization lead to questions about the validity of this model as they re-interpret key principles of the model. Yet, we find that little of these divergences and re-interpretations are reported upon. As a result, these two models of commercialization, the one practiced by the water operator and the one endorsed by donors and sector organizations co-exist as separate, and equally valid, guidelines. We advocate for a richer vocabulary to describe or refer to different manifestations and interpretations of commercialization as this may lead to a more honest development of water services for all.

Know Your Community: Sensor‐Based Water Management

CSA NewsVolume 64, Issue 9 p. 18-18 Membership Know Your Community: Sensor-Based Water Management Davie Kadyampakeni, Davie Kadyampakeni 2019 ASA Sensor-Based Water Management Community LeaderSearch for more papers by this author Davie Kadyampakeni, Davie Kadyampakeni 2019 ASA Sensor-Based Water Management Community LeaderSearch for more papers by this author First published: 19 September 2019 https://doi.org/10.2134/csa2019.64.0904Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume64, Issue9September 2019Pages 18-18 RelatedInformation

The impacts of a capacity-building workshop in a randomized adaptation project

Encouraging adaptation to climate change is fundamentally about encouraging changes in human behaviour. To promote these changes, governments, non-profits and multilateral institutions have invested in a range of adaptation projects. Yet there is little empirical evidence about which project components are effective in changing human behaviour1,2. This lack of evidence is concerning, given that the failure of adaptation initiatives has been described as the global risk with the highest likelihood of occurring and with the largest negative impacts3. Here we report on a scholar–practitioner collaboration in which a simple one-day workshop delivering two ubiquitous components of adaptation projects4—capacity building and the dissemination of climate science—was randomly assigned among the management councils of over 200 community water systems in an arid region of Central America. The workshop was based on more than three years of scientific research and local collaborations, and it aimed to convey downscaled climate modelling and locally informed, expert-recommended adaptation practices. Two years later, we detect no differences in pricing and non-pricing management practices of participant versus non-participant councils. These results suggest weaknesses in the common practice of using simple workshops for delivering capacity building and climate science. Lack of information is a barrier to climate change adaptation, and filling the information gap is a key component of adaptation projects. However, using a randomized controlled trial, this study finds no impact of a capacity-building workshop on community water management practices in Costa Rica.

How Urban Storm- and Wastewater Management Prepares for Emerging Opportunities and Threats: Digital Transformation, Ubiquitous Sensing, New Data Sources, and Beyond - A Horizon Scan.

Ubiquitous sensing will create many opportunities and threats for urban water management, which are only poorly understood today. To identify the most relevant trends, we conducted a horizon scan regarding how ubiquitous sensing will shape the future of urban drainage and wastewater management. Our survey of the international urban water community received an active response from both the academics and the professionals from the water industry. The analysis of the responses demonstrates that emerging topics for urban water will often involve experts from different communities, including aquatic ecologists, urban water system engineers and managers, as well as information and communications technology professionals and computer scientists. Activities in topics that are identified as novel will either require (i) cross-disciplinary training, such as importing new developments from the IT sector, or (ii) research in new areas for urban water specialists, for example, to help solve open questions in aquatic ecology. These results are, therefore, a call for interdisciplinary research beyond our own discipline. They also demonstrate that the water management community is not yet prepared for the digital transformation, where we will experience a data demand, i.e. a "pull" of urban water data into external services. The results suggest that a lot remains to be done to harvest the upcoming opportunities. Horizon scanning should be repeated on a routine basis, under the umbrella of an experienced polling organization.

Importance of internal factors for community-managed water and wastewater systems in Cochabamba, Bolivia

ABSTRACT Community management is often seen as part of the solution to increase access to drinking water and wastewater management where municipal services are lacking. This article intends to increase the knowledge regarding self-organized community-managed water and wastewater systems in urban and peri-urban areas. A theory-building case-study approach, including three different neighbourhoods in Bolivia and their respective community-based organizations, was selected. Four prerequisites – leadership, agreed vision, collective action and management – and associated enabling factors connected to three distinct planning and management phases were found to be of major importance for community-managed water and wastewater systems.

Cities Have Water History And We Need To Understand That

The water crisis is not a new issue, but new is the quantum of crisis. Cities are the centres of civilisation and so are the largest consumers of water. Water had always played a significant role in deciding the location as well as in sustenance of cities. Before the technological innovation of the central pipe water network, people developed different indigenous means to ensure access to water. Those are collectively called ‘traditional community-managed water system’. However, along with the technological advancement and consequent ease of water supply, these traditional systems were forgotten. This article, without getting into ‘romanticising the past’, claims that each city has a water history and explains why we need to understand that. Those systems can never be an alternative but can supplement the modern centralised system to a certain degree.

Governance from below and environmental justice: Community water management from the perspective of social metabolism

The Mexican neoliberal political regime created a hegemonic governance model (top-down) which has tried to impose a single definition for the rules of the distribution of the costs and benefits (environmental and economic) related to the appropriation of “natural resources” (fossil fuels, forests, mineral, water, genetic). Social metabolism is a framework that highlights the contribution of indigenous communities in their struggles to build a movement of environmental justice and austerity (a regionally sensitive alternative to degrowth). By forging an indigenous communitarian identity, known as comunalidad in the Sierra Juárez of Oaxaca, they are forging a new form of “bottom-up” governance. We designed key components and indicators to understand the social metabolism related to three policy objectives: a) local governance; b) reducing water vulnerability; and c) social justice. Heterodox perspectives by Marx and Illich enrich the analysis. The analysis emphasizes the importance of the social control of the “tools” needed to protect their communities and their heritage, transforming the institutions that were imposed on them. The approach is critical for constructing a research program in “ecological economics from below.”

Effects of training duration and the role of gender on farm participation in water user associations in Southern Tajikistan: Implications for irrigation management

This paper examines whether longer training increases farm participation in community-managed water user associations, in a context where assignment to training duration was not randomized and none of these institutions existed before training began. We also examine whether participation is affected when farm managers migrate and leave farm operations to other workers, in a context where only managers have been directly trained, almost all managers are male, and females are increasingly operating farms. We collected microdata from 1855 farms in Southern Tajikistan, where farm managers in 40 subdistricts received longer training, while those in the other 40 received shorter training. These ‘treatment’ and ‘control’ subdistricts were selected by constructing propensity scores and matching without replacement to address observable selection effects that may affect assignment to training duration. Farms were then selected from a census using a stratified random sampling process. A difference-in-difference technique with right-hand-side covariates is employed, where both sets of data were collected after training was completed. This choice of econometric methods controls against farm-level selection effects, but introduces a potential bias due to measurement error. Longer training has a causal effect on increasing participation in WUAs. Results also demonstrate that when male workers not directly trained operate farms, participation is not affected; however, participation is negatively affected when female workers operate farms. These results provide evidence for designing irrigation management programs to target female workers directly, in order to strengthen institutions whose success depends on active farm participation.

Analysing the capacity to respond to climate change: a framework for community-managed water services

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we present a conceptual framework for guiding interdisciplinary research on analysing the capacity of community-managed water services to respond to disturbances from climate change. Climate change poses a serious threat to the sustainable delivery of community-managed water services in developing countries. We synthesized key concepts from the latest research on vulnerability and resilience theories into a shared framework that functions as a heuristic for the analysis of different elements of the capacity to respond to climate disturbances and how they are related to community-managed water services. Primary elements of the framework include conceptualisations of the capacities to respond to specific hazards (e.g. through risk management and knowledge of thresholds) and to disturbances in general (e.g. through agency, social structure, and adaptive management practices), the potential for capacity to be differentiated across scales, and the social and biophysical system characteristics that influence capacity to respond to climate change. We describe how each these elements relate to sustaining community-managed water services against climate change throughout the paper. We also discuss subjective choices (temporal frame, system boundaries, scale of inquiry, and desired forms of capacity) that analysts must make when considering how capacity to respond to climate change is analysed.

The production of informality and everyday politics

Urban informality is a complex phenomenon and recent literature points towards the need to develop a new theoretical framework to analyse and interpret empirical observations. This paper uses Bourdieu’s practice theory to conceptualize informality as a set of practices, analysing two case studies from Jagdamba Camp, Delhi (India), and its surrounding neighbourhoods. The first case centres on practices around a community-managed water supply system and the second on practices around solid waste management. The case studies, based on data collected through qualitative fieldwork in 2015 and 2016, point to multifaceted interactions between formal and informal practices that result in manifestations of in/formal practices in the locality’s everyday politics. The paper argues that informality is not linked to particular people or places in an essentialist way, but dependent on the field in which these actors operate.

Hydroclimatic Extremes as Challenges for the Water Management Community: Lessons from Oroville Dam and Hurricane Harvey

Hydroclimatic Extremes as Challenges for the Water Management Community: Lessons from Oroville Dam and Hurricane Harvey

Community-Managed Water Supply Systems in Rural Uganda: The Role of Participation and Capacity Development

Over 85% of Uganda’s 34 million people depend on rural water supply systems and the current water and environment sector performance report (2017) reports an 84% functionality of rural water sources such as boreholes and shallow wells with a hand pump. Ensuring the continued operation of water points, and in keeping with participatory theory, the water user’s committees (WUCs) should also be a vehicle for empowering communities while bringing about greater equity of use. However, WUC members do not acquire the knowledge and skills they need by default but require different types of training. This study sought to evaluate community participation and capacity development in WUCs in relation to community-managed water supply systems. A shared dialogue workshop (SDW), as well as 642 randomly selected households across 17 villages in two Parishes in Lwengo district, southern Uganda were considered. Results indicated that 41.7% of surveyed households used an unprotected source while up to 30% had a member in a WUC. Fifty-two percent of households had never made any financial contributions to a WUC, while 34.6% did so on an ad hoc basis. This paper examines the relationship between participation, mobilization, and financial contributions. The chi-square test indicated mobilization has no impact on household financial contributions to a WUC. However, the majority of even those households that were mobilized made a payment only occasionally, and specifically when the source broke down. Additionally, the test result reveals that there is no difference between better off and relatively poor households in their contributions to a WUC, an indication that other factors influence such decisions. Training activities, especially on the operation and maintenance of water points and to undertake minor repairs, were mostly provided by non-governmental organizations (NGOs)/project staff. Abandoned boreholes, lack of rehabilitation activities, and loss of enthusiasm are all indications that the technical, financial, and institutional performance of community-managed water supply systems needs improvement.

Pathways to sustainability: A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of rural water supply programs

Despite recent progress extending access to drinking water supplies globally, ensuring long-term functionality of rural water infrastructure remains challenging. Past research on rural water project outcomes has used two principal approaches: large-N statistical studies estimating average effect sizes, or case studies providing causal description. Notably lacking is a rigorous comparative analysis of conditions determining sustained service delivery. We use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to identify causal conditions (“pathways”) leading to sustained functionality of rural water supplies across diverse geographies. Twenty cases were selected through a review of the literature. We identified and coded five conditions to examine their influence on project outcomes for each case. Results reveal three distinct pathways sufficient for achieving sustained functionality: Pathway 1 features piped networks with professionalized, service-oriented management and post-construction support. Pathway 2 features a self-supply approach (e.g., private wells and small piped schemes) delivering water services on premises. Pathway 3 describes community-managed water points (e.g., deep boreholes with handpumps) in the context of freshwater scarcity. Two conditions were common across all pathways: good financial management and user participation in project decisions. Strong management, combined with sufficient financial and technical resources, moderates the influence of physical water availability on service sustainability.

A Philosophical Justification for a Novel Analysis-Supported, Stakeholder-Driven Participatory Process for Water Resources Planning and Decision Making

Two trends currently shape water resources planning and decision making: reliance on participatory stakeholder processes to evaluate water management options; and growing recognition that deterministic approaches to the evaluation of options may not be appropriate. These trends pose questions regarding the proper role of information, analysis, and expertise in the inherently social and political process of negotiating agreements and implementing interventions in the water sector. The question of how one might discover the best option in the face of deep uncertainty is compelling. The question of whether the best option even exists to be discovered is more vexing. While such existential questions are not common in the water management community, they are not new to political theory. This paper explores early classical writing related to issues of knowledge and governance as captured in the work of Plato and Aristotle; and then attempts to place a novel, analysis-supported, stakeholder-driven water resources planning and decision making practice within this philosophical discourse, making reference to current decision theory. Examples from the Andes and California, where this practice has been used to structure participation by key stakeholders in water management planning and decision-making, argue that when a sufficiently diverse group of stakeholders is engaged in the decision making process expecting the discovery of the perfect option may not be warranted. Simply discovering a consensus option may be more realistic. The argument touches upon the diversity of preferences, model credibility and the visualization of model output required to explore the implications of various management options across a broad range of inherently unknowable future conditions.

Sustainable Water Management under Variable Rainfall Conditions in River Communities of Champhone District, Savannakhet Province, Lao PDR

A large majority of the rural population of Lao PDR remains dependent on agriculture for their livelihood and food security, for which access to and management of irrigated and rain-fed water sources is critical. Crop choices and planting calendars follow a monsoonal (dry season/wet season) weather system and are vulnerable to variations in the supply of rainfall, particularly deficits in the dry season and oversupply in the wet season. Climate change projections show that flood vulnerable areas like Champhone district, Savannakhet province might face worse problems in future, affecting food security and agricultural development.This study examines how households are being affected by flooding and drought in Xe Champhone district. Flood vulnerability was assessed by calculating the rainfall variation to determine the water balance during rainy season and dry season. This was combined with analysis of social data from household surveys, together with institutional capacity at different levels and coping strategies currently used by farmers. Constraints and opportunities are identified to strengthen adaptive capacity and resilience to climate change in the Xe Champhone River basin of Savannakhet province. Hydrology data show that the water balance was unstable during both the rainy and dry seasons. The minimum runoff is very low in dry season (Q = 2.4 m³/sec), while the maximum runoff is high in rainy season (Q = 274 m³/sec). Harvesting rainwater in the wet season for use in dry season could reduce the vulnerability of farmers. This study aims to support small-scale community water management initiatives in Lao PDR.

Las organizaciones comunitarias del agua en el estado de Veracruz. Análisis a la luz de la experiencia latinoamericana

México comparte con la región latinoamericana la experiencia de más de cincuenta años de gestión comunitaria del agua; sin embargo, si bien existen organizaciones constituidas para el autoabastecimiento del líquido en zonas rurales y periurbanas, éstas no han experimentado el fortalecimiento que se observa en otros países. En este artículo se presenta un análisis realizado en Veracruz, la entidad con mayor número de localidades rurales en el país, y una de las que mayor rezago tiene en la cobertura de agua potable, drenaje y alcantarillado.En el ámbito latinoamericano, las organizaciones comunitarias de servicios de agua y saneamiento (OCSAS) han desplegado diversas estrategias para su fortalecimiento; entre ellas figura la asociatividad como punto clave para la sostenibilidad de los sistemas hídricos en el área rural, que no se observa en México pues no existen ahí las condiciones institucionales para fortalecer este tipo de organización social, que permitiría dar cumplimiento al derecho humano al agua en las zonas rurales donde el Estado no llega.

Sustainability and long-term impact of community-managed water supply in rural Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia

How can Community Managed Water Supply (CMWS) become more sustainable? Recent studies in several countries indicate that the sustainability of many CMWS is poor. As a result, their long term impact on village lives is limited. This paper presents the findings of research on the sustainability and long-term impact of a group of CMWS created by the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (RWSSP) in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia. This project adopted a Community-Based Approach to maximize the sustainability and long-term impact of its CMWS. The research assessed the sustainability of these CMWS a decade after their completion. It used six measures to assess sustainability and examined four long-term impacts. The results are compared with studies from other countries. The influence of Community-Based Approach (CBA) on the results is discussed. Recommendations are made for changes in policies and strategies to improve the sustainability and long term impact of future CMWS in Central Asia and elsewhere.

Financial performance of community-managed small-town water systems in north-western Ghana

In a quest to ensure sustainability of water services delivery, the provision and management of potable water in small towns has gone through reforms, resulting in the current practice of community-based water management. It is assumed that community level actors are closest to the water resources and are in a better position to devise strategies to manage them. This paper assesses the financial self-sufficiency of community-managed water systems in Ghana. The study was based on content analysis of the water systems finances and separate focus group discussions with water management bodies. The main source of revenue for operation and maintenance is through water user-charges. While the expenditure pattern remains relatively stable, there is a highly undulating revenue pattern. The presence of unregulated alternative sources of water, especially in the rainy season, and weak oversight responsibility on water management are detrimental to the financial self-sufficiency of the water systems.