Lifecycle costs
The cost of handpump water supply services in the Sahel
A new IRC- Triple-S/GLOWS/WA-WASH research paper analyses the absolute and relative value of each cost component of a water service (capital investment, operating costs, rehabilitation cost, support costs) and looks into each component cost drivers. The effective expenditures on 842 handpumps composing 192 rural water services are compared to the national guidelines available in Burkina […]
Akvopedia WASH Finance Portal launched by Akvo and IRC
A new free and open source knowledge portal has been launched by Akvo and IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. It is designed to help water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) teams achieve sustainable financing throughout the entire life-cycle of WASH services. What WASH costs do I need to finance? How can I finance WASH services […]
Dear Matt Damon,
This blog is a response to the video posted by Matt Damon, co-founder of water.org, where he announces a toilet strike to raise awareness for the water crisis. ——- Dear Matt, I enjoyed your video on water.org about going on a toilet strike. It is great that you are so passionate about realizing access to safe water, […]
Costing rural water service levels in Burkina Faso
Based on national standards, the 7 boreholes and 3 standpipes in the village of Komsilga, Burkina Faso, are sufficient to supply water to 3,600 people. Since only 1,500 people live in the village, you might think that they had water in abundance. In reality, only half of the villagers receive a basic level of service […]
We can no more expect unmaintained pumps to provide services than we can a car with no fuel to take us on our journey
What does it cost to provide water services that last? What do we mean by a water service? How can we measure whether water is being provided effectively, and at the desired level? These were among the questions tackled during a panel discussion held in WASH Advocate’s 301 session for World Water Day. Catarina Fonseca […]
Ladders for assessing and costing water service delivery
Moriarty, P. … [et al.] (2011). Ladders for assessing and costing water service delivery. (WASHCost working paper; no. 2). 2nd ed. The Hague, The Netherlands, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. iv, 19 p. : 5 fig., 5 tab. 14 ref. Download full paper This working paper introduces the concept of service levels, grouped as […]
Life-cycle costs approach: costing sustainable services
Fonseca, C. … [et al.]. (2011). Life-cycle costs approach : costing sustainable services. (WASHCost briefing note ; 1a). The Hague, The Netherlands, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. 37 p. : 6 fig., 7 tab. 22 ref. Download full briefing note This briefing note describes the life-cycle costs approach and why it was developed. It […]
Brisbane WASH Conference 2011 presentations on financial sustainability
Some 224 conference delegates from over 100 organisations in 40 countries came to Brisbane, Australia for the WASH Conference 2011. Below is a selection of the presentations on financial sustainability – powerpoints + audio files – given on 16-17 May. Most of the presentations were about Asia, the focus area of conference co-organiser/sponsor AusAid. There […]
WASHCost reveals the high cost of low quality services
It costs a lot of money to provide low quality water and sanitation services – and more expensive technology alone will not solve the problem, Catarina Fonseca, Director of the WASHCost project, has told an audience of economists, WASH specialists and researchers. Research in four countries has found that switching from boreholes with handpumps to […]
Assessing sanitation service levels – new WASHCost project working paper
Conventional sanitation ladders rank sanitation in increasing complexity of technological options. However, sanitation improvement is not as straightforward as the concept of “a ladder” with incremental improvements from op full flush, might suggest. For example, from the user perspective, a VIP toilet may in some circumstances be a better option than a septic tank system. […]
