The Government of Afghanistan is investigating service delivery options to achieve access to safe and affordable drinking water (SDG Goal 6.1). One option to provide rural communities with sustainable and quality water is metered household water connections. The Afghan government began supporting such an approach in 2006 which it began to scale-up in 2016. This study documents and assesses experiences in the operation and maintenance as well as revenue collection systems of this intervention.

Research was carried out in 16 rural villages in Bamyan, Ghazni and Herat provinces where water supply systems with household connections have been functioning in recent years. Communities were overwhelmingly positive about the benefits of these systems. Those interviewed appreciated the operation and maintenance (O&M) mechanisms established in communities (most often through Community Development Councils (CDCs)) with support from local government. Moreover, respondents underscored a willingness to contribute to pay for establishing such water systems.

Community’s willingness to pay for the development of such systems is high; it was found that households contributed significantly to the construction of the systems. Women’s participation in the operation and maintenance was however limited to the household level, and they did not effectively engage in the management of the water supply systems outside of the household. Yet, the study found that women’s contributions to the household connection and the water meter were crucial and that future scaling-up of metered networks should encourage higher levels of women’s participation in the leadership, administrative and operational management of the systems.

Bibliographic information

Haziq, H. (2021). Improved Operation and Maintenance and Revenue Collection from Metered Water Supply Systems Lessons from Rural Afghanistan UNICEF

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Politicians and local decision makersPractitionersEnglish

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Afghanistan

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