WASH sector finance
This blog contains news related to the financing of water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in developing countries, collected by Cor Dietvorst, the editor of Source Weekly published by IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre.
Microfinance: interest free loans for water filters for the poor in India
23 Jul 10
Village Financial Services Pvt Ltd., a Kolkata-based microfinance company, has signed an MoU with Hindustan Unilever Ltd to promote use of safe drinking water among the poor. The collaboration will enable poor households to purchase HUL’s Pureit water purifiers through the VFS network. The targeted 250,000 beneficiaries will be offered loans at zero rate of [...]
Strategic evaluation of the Water Integrity Network: call for expression of interest
22 Jul 10
The Water Integrity Network (WIN) was launched in 2006 and its secretariat is hosted at Transparency International in Berlin. WIN is a multi stakeholder network that aims to fight corruption and promote integrity in the water sector to help reduce poverty in the world. The strategic evaluation aims to reach conclusions concerning the adequateness of [...]
Global water resource protection services worth nearly US$ 10 billion says report
22 Jul 10
Rewarding people to protect water resources could help avert a looming global water quality crisis, says a new report. It documents 288 programmes yielding an estimated US$ 9.3 billion in transactions. Calling the water crisis a threat to humanity that exceeds global warming, the authors of the study said that a number of regions of [...]
Afghanistan: female meter reader raises water revenues
20 Jul 10
Hiring a female meter reader in a USAID-funded project in Afghanistan, resulted in 75 per cent increase in collected revenue in the first month. In the local cultural context, only a woman can access household meters during times when only other women are at home. The U.S. Government is assisting four provincial water supply departments in [...]
Economic impact assessment: evaluation of water and sanitation programmes in India
16 Jul 10
Researchers have used an improved evaluation method to better calculate economic benefits of a rural water supply and sanitation programme in India. This was achieved by getting comprehensive pre-intervention baseline data from treatment and control villages, and including the costs of medical bills, lost income and and water treatment. Pattanayak, S.K … [et al] (2010). [...]
India, Hyderabad: separate tariff for only sewerage connections, illegal water connections to be regularised
15 Jul 10
For the first time, some 4,000 premises in Hyderabad will have to start paying monthly sewerage connections charges. They include halls, malls, hotels and office complexes that are connected to the city’s sewerage system, but get water from tankers. Sewerage costs are paid through a 35 per cent surcharge on water supply tariffs. As many [...]
India, Maharashtra: surcharge on mineral water to pay for rural water supplyumbai: soon, bottled water may replace public taps
15 Jul 10
Maharashtra hopes to generate an extra US$ 171 million to improve rural water supply through a one Rupee (2 US dollar cents) surcharge on bottled mineral water. The state also plans to replace public water taps in the slums of its capital Mumbai by safer bottled water. The plans were presented by Maharashtra’s water supply [...]
Sri Lanka, Trincomalee: France funding mega water supply scheme
14 Jul 10
Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and French Ambassador Christine Robichon signed an Agreement to implement a mega water supply scheme in Trincomalee, a National Water Supply and Drainage Board spokesman said. The spokesman said this mega water supply scheme is to be implemented in Trincomalee at a cost of Rs 1,800 million [US$ [...]
India, Karnataka: rural water supply gets boost with US$ 150 million WB loan
14 Jul 10
The World Bank has approved financing of US$ 150 million (Rs. 810 crore) for the second phase of the Karnataka Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (KRWSS) project to be implemented by the Karnataka Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (KRWSSA) in 11 districts of north Karnataka. The KRWSS project, which is also called Jal Nirmal [...]
Namibia: government moves closer to subsidising water for the poor
13 Jul 10
A group of experts has presented findings on possible future subsidisation of water tariffs for poor households, a plan that was mulled some three years ago. Although thousands of water points have been set up in rural areas, many households had their taps disconnected because they couldn’t afford to pay for the water they and [...]
