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Cost recovery of community‐managed piped water systems in Ashanti region, Ghana
Author(s) -
Nyarko K. B.,
OduroKwarteng S.,
Adama I.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.2006.00051.x
Subject(s) - water supply , sanitation , business , water industry , sustainability , willingness to pay , developing country , natural resource economics , finance , economic growth , economics , environmental engineering , environmental science , ecology , biology , microeconomics
Recovering the cost of water services is a major obstacle in achieving a sustainable drinking water supply in developing countries. This paper assesses the levels of cost recovery, household willingness and ability to pay for the full supply cost of water services, and financial management. The study was conducted in five out of 30 community‐managed piped systems in Ashanti region, Ghana. The study shows that the existing tariffs are not sufficient to recover the full supply cost of the service based on the guidelines of the Government Community Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (CWSA). Using 5% of household income as the ability‐to‐pay criteria, 67–87% of the households in the five communities could pay the full supply cost of the service. The poor recovery of the supply cost threatens the long‐term financial sustainability of the small towns' water supply sector.