Costing Improved Water Supply Systems for Low-income Communities: A Practical Manual

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a practical manual prepared for the Department Public Health and Environment now Department for the Protection of the Human Environment of the World Health Organization (WHO) dealing with how to identify, collect, estimate and compare costs of the available technical options to provide access to safe drinking water in low-income communities. To cost an improved water supply technology, likely to secure access to safe drinking-water as defined by the WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, we rely on a bottom-up approach that disaggregates the technology process according to its essential components, singled out by an engineering description. Questionnaires have been developed to identify the main resources invested in a water supply project and to collect, at different disaggregation levels, four types of costs, namely: infrastructure, operation, maintenance and other relevant costs such as administration. Comparability of these different cost elements is achieved by discounting expenditures at different times to the same reference time. Eventually, full and unit cost indicators allowing least-cost analysis are derived from this cost-picture.

A validated model of a photovoltaic water pumping system for off-grid rural communities

“…The main energy source for extracting water in these areas is human physical strength, through hand pumps or with buckets in wells [3]. Such collection techniques are time consuming [4], very physically demanding [5] and prevent from reaching deep aquifers [6].…”

Costing Improved Water Supply Systems for Low-income Communities: A Practical Manual

“…In this paper we present a practical manual 1 on Costing Improved Water Supply Systems for Low-income Communities prepared for the Department Public Health and Environment of the World Health Organization (WHO), on how to identify, collect, estimate and compare costs of the available technical options to provide access to safe drinking water in low-income communities, namely rural and slum communities. This guidance document intends to contribute in a meaningful way to achieve one of the main targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), namely to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.…”

Potential carbon credit and community expectations towards viability of REDD project in Ugalla- Masito ecosystem: A case of Ilagala and Karago villages, KigomaTanzania

“…In the key informant interviews with the village leaders, it was reported that amount of money to be given to each village government was reported not to be enough to complete even one development project. For instance the amount of money required to complete a water project for the people of more than 1500 households was not less than 200 million (Carlevaro and Gonzalez, 2008). This amount of money is higher by 86 -88% than the amount of money expected to be given to the households and village government put together.…”