Emory University's Center for Global Safe Water studied a random sampling of 10 out of 43 water projects in Honduras implemented between 1990 and 2002 by WaterPartners International and Comité Central de Proyectos de Agua y Desarrollo Integral de Lempira or the Central Committee for Water and Comprehensive Development Projects in Lempira (COCEPRADIL). The goal of this evaluation was to document system status, current operations and financial situation of the water committee, and system maintenance history, and to quantify user satisfaction in each of 10 randomly selected projects. None of the communities reported a significant number of broken or abandoned water points; nearly all of the communities surveyed had increased the number of water points from the beginning of the project and all were still collecting the water tariff. Community satisfaction was high throughout the study area for nearly all categories: quality, quantity, accessibility, affordability, and access. Kind of Study: Randomized Control Trial (RCT). Grey literature. Sample Size: 10 randomly selected rural water supply projects out of 43 projects in Lempira, Honduras. Timing of Study: July 12-22, 2006.
- All results show that all systems were functioning, water committees were meeting with regularity, and generally satisfaction was high in all communities. Results-Implications for Programming:
- The approach used in identifying communities, the process of community engagement and participation, and the technology provided are appropriate for the local context.
- The five greatest potential threats to sustainability identified in this evaluation were: 1) disassociation with COCEPRADIL; 2) relaxed maintenance; 3) financial instability of the water committee and lack of funds to pay for major system breakage; 4) summer water quantity; and 5) contamination at the water source.
- Only a few of the water systems had been tested for water quality within the last few years.
- Due to the variety of accounting practices employed by the water committees, it was difficult to determine the actual costs associated with maintenance and operation of the water systems.
- One of the greatest problems mentioned by the community was contamination above the water source either because of chemical contamination or erosion due to agriculture.
- It is likely that poorer communities are less aware of opportunities to work with COCEPRADIL.
- Few water committees had active female members.
- There are three major limitations to this approach to measuring sustainability and using this information to predict future performance: 1) a single evaluation can not reveal changes to indicators over time, 2) literature on how to conduct sustainability evaluations is scarce and there is no widely agreed upon group of indicators, and 3) little is known of the role specific indicators play in predicting sustainability throughout the design life of the project.
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- Copyright 2006 Center for Global Safe Water, Emory University.
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