Community participation and development agencies in rural drinking water supply : cases from Nepal : a research paper

Although water is the most important natural resource of Nepal, access to a safe water supply continues to be a serious problem especially in rural areas where 90% of the population lives. Many of the completed rural water supply systems need repair or renovation and the question of sustainability in terms of operation, maintenance and management is of serious concern. Even though attempts have been made to develop self-reliance in these rural water supply systems through community participation and using local water committees, development agencies tend to focus on the construction of new works, with much less attention being paid to repair and maintenance and involvement of beneficiaries in a serious manner that could lead to their sustainability. The objectives of this research paper are: (a) to study and analyze the rural community water supply schemes which have been implemented on the basis of community participation, with special attention on the role of women and the problem of revenue collection; (b) to identify major problem areas that lead to the failure of rural water supply schemes in the long run, with a comparison of the schemes initiated by governmental development agencies and by non-governmental organizations; and (c) to recommend appropriate measures that could enhance sustainability. The study is based on the field survey of 33 communities spread over all five development regions of Nepal and includes the results of testing the various hypothesis on which the research is based.