Forming Rural Utility Groups and Leases (FRUGAL) : review of the literature

This report provides a review of the literature on experiences with domestic private sector participation (PSP) in the provision of community water supplies in dispersed rural areas. The results are intended to support the further development of the PSP model developed by the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) called Forming Rural Utility Groups and Leases (FRUGAL).

The first section of the report is a review of secondary literature on private operators in rural water supply.

The second section presents a typology, based on a review of thirty-three initiatives, of PSP in operation and maintenance of rural water supply. Two main categories of PSP are distinguished:

• providing services and support to community groups (or other operators) which operate, maintain, and manage water supplies
• acting as private operators of the supplies, which may include also constructing or rehabilitating the infrastructure.

Within the second category, several types of private operator are distinguished:

• bulk water suppliers
• local scheme operators
• local scheme operator-owners
• handpump maintenance contracts
• mixed local scheme operator-handpump maintenance.