Town Water Supply and Sanitation

One-third of people in Africa and Asia live in towns of between 2,000 and 200,000 people. And both the number of towns and the number of people living in towns in Africa, Asia, and Latin America is expected to double within 15 years, and double again within 30 years. This rapid pace of urbanization, together with challenges and opportunities for local governments resulting from decentralization, make town water supply and sanitation (WSS) fundamental to economic growth and achievement of the  Millennium Development Goals.

Towns in the 2,000 to 50,000 population range face special challenges in the provision of their WSS services. The demand for differentiated technologies -- piped water supply in the core, alternative technologies in the fringe areas -- and the often rapid, unpredictable water demand and spatial growth requires planning, design, and management skills that exceed “rural” community-based management approaches. But, unlike larger towns or cities, these smaller towns often lack the financial and human resources to independently plan, finance, manage, and operate their WSS systems.  

A key challenge for Town WSS is to allocate limited government resources amongst a large number of dispersed towns. For every large town (50,000 to 200,000 people) there are 10 smaller ones (2,000 to 50,000 people). The goal should therefore be to establish town utilities with a minimum investment, and to ensure that reforms are put in place so that the utilities can meet carefully defined cost-recovery objectives. 

In addressing the town WSS challenge, governments may need to identify appropriate management arrangements that may cut across more than one town, ensure that design and financing requirements are suited to these towns, and take into account the need for effective professional support systems (e.g., contracting local partners to secure professional capacity). Business planning approach that integrates these four aspects of service provision and factors in the role of both utility managers (service provision) and town administrators (regulatory oversight) is