Seasonality, water use and community management of water systems in rural settings: Qualitative evidence from Ghana, Kenya, and Zambia

Abstract

The sustainability of rural, community-managed water systems in sub-Saharan Africa depends in part on the ability of local water committees to repair breakdowns and carry out the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the system. Much of sub-Saharan Africa has two distinct seasons that affect the availability of water sources and how people use water. Little is known about how seasonality affects water system management. This qualitative study is based on 320 interviews and focus group discussions and examines the effects of season on community water use and management in Ghana, Kenya and Zambia. Participants revealed that seasonality affects water availability, water system breakdowns, resource mobilization, committee activity, and external support availability. In the rainy season, participants typically reported spending less time and money on water collection because rainwater harvesting and seasonal streams, ponds, wells and reservoirs are available. In the dry season, people used improved groundwater sources more often and spent more money and time collecting water. Although seasonal changes in household water demand and use have been examined previously, our data suggest that seasonality also influences community management through differential water system use, system breakdowns and management characteristics. We found that water committees generally have less money, time and access to external support during the rainy season, making them less able to carry out O&M. Our results suggest that community engagement should take place over a long period of time so that seasonal patterns in management can be understood and incorporated into water committee training. External support actors should make a more targeted effort to understand the cultural and economic patterns in a community in order to train committees with appropriate management strategies.

Rural Water Collection Patterns: Combining Smart Meter Data with User Experiences in Tanzania

“…Seasonality of collection from DPs is evident across the different months. Reduced collection from piped supply due to free rain and surface water in rainy seasons is a common feature of rural water supply in sub-Saharan Africa [54][55][56]. This is observed here, however it does not drastically influence time of collection and further analysis is not included in this publication.…”

Effects of Community Perceptions and Institutional Capacity on Smallholder Farmers’ Responses to Water Scarcity: Evidence from Arid Northwestern China

“…Community-based water resource management is applied in many countries, including the United States (US) [32] and African countries [8,33]. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a community is defined as "a unified body of individuals, such as the people with common interests living in a particular area, or a group linked by a common policy".…”

“…Table 1 presents variable description and descriptive statistics. To investigate the responses farmers made to mitigate and adapt to perceived water scarcity, the respondents were asked whether they had taken any of the following actions in the previous year: (1) reducing planting acreage, (2) planting more water-saving crops, (3) complying with the allocated water quota, (4) adopting drip irrigation systems, (5) using plastic mulch, (6) reducing the amount of irrigation water or irrigation rounds if possible, (7) building a greenhouse for horticultural plants or cash crops, (8) suspending open grazing and/or building a greenhouse for livestock, (9) shutting down tube wells, (10) trimming or aligning canals, (11) upgrading to concrete canals or canal lining, and (12) participating in sand stabilization activities. Each response was coded 1 for "yes" and 0 for "no."…”

“…Each perception was coded 1-5, with 1 = not concerned, and 5 = extremely concerned. Exploratory factor analysis showed two major factors: (1) natural risks based on perceptions (1)-(4), and (2) production risks based on perceptions (5)- (8). Each new risk index was constructed by calculating the mean of the risk concern levels.…”

“…Through pursuing socio-economic objectives of rural communities, the approach facilitates linkages between water resource conservation and community livelihood enhancement [8,9]. For instance, evidence was found in a variety of settings that community engagement improves sustainability of water supply systems [6,8,[10][11][12][13], water quality improvement [14], conflict management [15], and other social outcomes [16]. Kativhu et al [10] observed that the sustainability of water supply facilities could be improved through building stronger capacities in technical, social, and institutional aspects.…”