Community water supply in developing countries : a quarter century of United States assistance

This publication summarizes in general, yet concise form the community water supply activities of the US Agency for International Development and its predecessors. It reviews the history and status of United States technical and capital assistance for water supply in developing countries by region and country, including its context as part of foreign aid generally and its growth from 1942 in Latin America to a global program and an important element of multilateral programmes. The essential role of water supply is reviewed with particular attention to health, economic development, nutrition, population control, and political and social development. Six projects are highlighted as examples of educational assistance, development and strengthening of a national water supply programme, institution-building, technological development, capital assistance, and rural water supply. Lessons and observations include: 1) community water supplies in developing countries are still generally inadequate despite recent progress; 2) community water supplies are essential investments for community development and economic growth; 3) a self-liquidating water supply system is a feasible goal for urban communities of even the poorest countries; 4) well-conceived, well-engineered water supply projects can attract international financing; 5) preventive health programmes that ignore water supply are invariably failures; 6) deficiencies in personnel and in institutions are currently the critical factors in development of community water supply, not technology and probably not capital; 7) the major accomplishment of the Community Water Supply Program is not hardware but the progress to date in establishment or strengthening of water supply institutions, however technical assistance must be continued until these have ripened to full maturity.

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