PRESS Release: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre to pilot new model to improve rural water services

The Hague – 14 April 2009. The IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre has launched a six-year initiative to improve sustainability of rural water supply for some of the world’s poorest people, by reshaping the way that these services are provided.

Through the Sustainable Services at Scale (or Triple-S) initiative, IRC seeks to contribute to ending the cycle of failure that causes wells, pumps and piped systems in rural areas to require replacement every few years because they have not been maintained. Triple-S aims to end this cycle of despair by developing scalable business models that will ensure ongoing maintenance and repair of water systems. For these models to be effective Triple-S will work with government, planners, donors and water service providers and promote joint development, joint funding and joint implementation of the models.

Backed by a US $22 million (€16.1 million) grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Triple-S will apply these models in rural districts and small towns in Ghana and Uganda.

Rural water supply continues to be a significant problem

Of the one billion people globally who live without reliable access to safe water, nine out of ten live in rural areas. While the UN Millennium Development Goals aim to halve that number by 2015, there is a growing concern that the drive to increase the number of new taps and pumps neglects the need to maintain water systems and to raise finances for replacement costs. In the last 20 years between 600-800,000 hand pumps have been installed in sub-Saharan Africa, of which some 30% are known to fail prematurely, representing a total investment of between $1.2 and $1.5 billion. Because different donors and government agencies promote different systems, there is no comprehensive approach to water supply coverage or equipment and no economies of scale for follow up to ensure that boreholes, pumps and wells survive for their designed lifespans.

Ton Schouten, leading Triple-S together with Harold Lockwood, says that both donor funding and community willingness to pay for their water services have often been wasted. “If you drive through rural Africa you often see signs proclaiming that the water supply in a village is a gift of one or other donor. Sometimes the signs last longer than the water supply, and the donor does not even know that their project has failed. Some areas have become a graveyard for pumps with repeated projects providing short-term solutions.”

“Communities put their trust and efforts into these projects, digging trenches and raising their own money. They become frustrated, as do local organisations and entrepreneurs who work with communities on the ground. Triple-S will channel that frustration to become a positive driver for change.”

A new focus on rural water service delivery

Triple-S will promote a move away from one-off ‘projects’ to delivery of water services for entire populations, especially the poorest. Instead of an approach where one village receives a gift of a water supply while the next village has to find its own, Triple-S will promote a strategy to meet the needs for a continuous flow of drinking water to all villages in a district, as well as for additional water that allows people to grow crops, keep animals and earn an income. The initiative seeks to pool resources from various service providers, including local government, donors, civil society and the private sector, to promote more effective planning, funding and maintenance of water services.

Piloting for change in districts in Ghana and Uganda

Ghana and Uganda have been chosen to pioneer this approach, because leading agencies in these countries have already expressed dissatisfaction with current practice and because IRC has a strong record of work in these countries. One pilot district in each country will be selected, with the intention to replicate in additional districts. However, the real test for this six-year project will be to show how the new approach can be embedded in the country, so that it is sustained when the project is over and can be replicated in other countries.

Triple-S will seek to have a high impact but a low profile. The IRC team will work with local partners and will facilitate the fora, known as learning alliances, which will drive the process and ensure that the lessons are shared and learned.

Expected outcomes

The expected outcomes will be an improvement in reliable and sustainable water supplies for rural communities, and the development and testing of models that can be copied and scaled up across Ghana and Uganda and into other countries.

Ben Lamoree, director of the IRC, said, “This initiative will help to increase coverage and sustainable service delivery of clean water. With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Triple-S project has the potential to change the way that governments and local authorities in developing countries work with communities to make safe water a reliable daily reality.”

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation believes that the lives of millions of people can be improved through this approach. “Access to clean water has profound health, economic and social impacts and is essential to helping the poor live longer and more productive lives,” said Louis Boorstin, deputy director of the Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene initiative for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “A comprehensive approach has the potential to provide needed answers to finding lasting solutions that can work at scale, and which could improve the lives of millions who live without safe or easily accessible drinking water.”

For more information

Contact: Dick de Jong, IRC Information and Communication Officer

Tel +31 70 304 4018, Mobile +31 0652215827, e-mail: jong@irc.nl , site: http://www.irc.nl

Notes for Media

• The Triple-S Project is a six-year project headed by the IRC Water and Sanitation Centre, with the involvement of the UK based firm Aguaconsult.
• Triple-S will establish learning alliances in each country made up of representatives of water agencies, academic institutions, governmental agencies at national and district level, civil society, consumers and the private sector. In some cases, it will work with existing bodies.
• Learning alliances will oversee research into existing experiences with rural water supply to learn what works and identify the existing constraints.
• Pilot district activities will be initiated to develop and test new models for rural water supply.
• The project will capture and share lessons about these models within the country and internationally.
• Triple-S will promote the replication of successful model in other districts in Ghana and Uganda and in other countries where there is demand.
• Strengthening the capacity of service providers and especially of decentralised local government to regulate and monitor services will be an important focus for Triple-S.
• Wherever possible, this project will link up with other IRC work in the selected countries to make the most effective use of resources and to increase outcomes and impact. In Ghana, for example it will cooperate with the WASHCost project, also run by IRC with financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. WASHCost is seeking to disaggregate the full life cycle costs of water and sanitation schemes including all the support and maintenance costs.

About the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre

IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre is a non-profit organisation with 54 staff members. It is located in The Hague, the Netherlands. IRC develops and shares knowledge with water sector partners around the world and backs innovation and capacity development with southern partners. It assists national and international aid organisations and donors to develop sustainable WASH policies and strategies and backs integrated water management at local level in developing countries.