This is an archival version of the original KnowledgePoint website.

Interactive features have been disabled and some pages and links have been removed.

Visit the new KnowledgePoint website at https://www.knowledgepoint.org.

 

Revision history [back]

click to hide/show revision 1
initial version
Toby Gould gravatar image
RedR

collection of monthly tarriffs

I am an adviser to a small NGO doing community-based gravity-fed water systems in the northern mountains of Nicaragua called Water for Waslala (WFW). I have been in touch with the organization for many years and have seen it grow from an idea to its current stage, hoping to take their work to the next level.

They are currently trying to solve the ubiquitous problems associated with collection and enforcement of monthly tariffs from beneficiaries of gravity-fed water systems. I gave them my advice and some additional leads, but was wondering if you might have any contacts with experience implementing innovative strategies for water payment collection? Or perchance someone with data showing success rates of various strategies?

I have attached a Backgrounder and Problem Statement that has been developed by WFW, which explains the problems and specific questions that WFW staff have. If you or anyone that comes to mind could provide a response to the questions, I know it would be much appreciated. Just having finished talking with WFW, they said it would be great as well if you could possibly distribute the attached document to your mailing list of relevant RedR members around the world who respond to technical queries.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Best,

Rob

Document contents: Background and Discussion Topics for WfW Advisory Committee November 6-12, 2012 Collection and Enforcement of Monthly Tariffs from Beneficiaries of WfW Gravity- Fed Water Systems

Problem statement: after a Water for Waslala gravity-fed water system is built in a given rural community in Waslala, delinquency rates on tariff payments by the system beneficiaries are high, leading to underinvestment in the community’s maintenance fund that threatens the long-term sustainability of the project.

Technical causes:

  • Some people don’t receive water during the dry season, or at times when river crossings or leaks cause temporary outages. Also, during the first year of service after a water system is constructed, there are various “bugs” in the system that need to be fixed, and typically lead to temporary outages. Beneficiaries rightly don’t want to pay during periods of time when they feel their level of service is not high.
  • Some people claim that they didn’t use any water during the previous month, so they shouldn’t have to pay a tariff. Installing water meters at each household might alleviate this problem, although families could easily claim that their meter is broken or not working correctly to continue avoiding their payments.
  • In some of our older water systems, individual shutoff valves for individual household tapstands were not installed, making it impossible to cut off a household’s access to water if they do not pay their tariff. Newer systems do feature shutoff valves for each household beneficiary, but enforcement is still difficult because 1) many of these valves are located on the beneficiary’s own property in neighborhoods that are clustered around a road, and 2) Waslalans are very resourceful and would likely find a way to access the shutoff valve and turn back on their water.

Organizational causes:

  • Tariff payments are collected at monthly community meetings organized by the community’s elected 6-9 member water leadership team. If a household does not show up at the meeting, they can avoid paying their tariff for the month. Enforcement of paying the monthly tariff is currently difficult, since it requires time-consuming visits to each household that did not attend the monthly meeting by the water leadership team. Moreover, these visits are difficult because it involves neighbors pressuring other neighbors to pay their bill, which is especially difficult in the highly politically and religiously polarized region of Waslala.

Even though all beneficiaries are made aware of the fact that their connection will be shut off if they do not pay their tariff, water committee members find it difficult to enforce this rule and cut off their neighbors, for fear of igniting a conflict in their community.

  • Some people have complained that they have been approached by the water system treasurer more than once in the same month, asking for their tariff payment for the month. Some water system leadership teams do not give receipts to each customer after payment is received, and do not share information about the balance of the maintenance fund account that is fed by these tariffs, so mistrust of the system by some beneficiaries is high.

Questions for Advisory Committee

  1. What ideas do you have, or what solutions have you seen other organizations implement, that could address some of the technical or organizational causes of tariff delinquency WfW faces for its completed gravity-fed projects?
  2. How do other organizations structure the collection of tariffs from customers in more rural settings? Should Water for Waslala’s water system leaders consider another means of collecting tariffs instead of doing so via monthly community meetings?
  3. Are you aware of any WASH sector data on tariff delinquency rates for completed community level water systems, aggregated by urban, peri-urban and rural settings or geographic regions of the world, that we could use for benchmarking purposes?
click to hide/show revision 2
No.2 Revision

collection of monthly tarriffs

I am an adviser to a small NGO doing community-based gravity-fed water systems in the northern mountains of Nicaragua called Water for Waslala (WFW). I have been in touch with the organization for many years and have seen it grow from an idea to its current stage, hoping to take their work to the next level.

They are currently trying to solve the ubiquitous problems associated with collection and enforcement of monthly tariffs from beneficiaries of gravity-fed water systems. I gave them my advice and some additional leads, but was wondering if you might have any contacts with experience implementing innovative strategies for water payment collection? Or perchance someone with data showing success rates of various strategies?

I have attached a Backgrounder and Problem Statement that has been developed by WFW, which explains the problems and specific questions that WFW staff have. If you or anyone that comes to mind could provide a response to the questions, I know it would be much appreciated. Just having finished talking with WFW, they said it would be great as well if you could possibly distribute the attached document to your mailing list of relevant RedR members around the world who respond to technical queries.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Best,

Rob

Document contents: Background and Discussion Topics for WfW Advisory Committee November 6-12, 2012 Collection and Enforcement of Monthly Tariffs from Beneficiaries of WfW Gravity- Fed Water Systems

Problem statement: after a Water for Waslala gravity-fed water system is built in a given rural community in Waslala, delinquency rates on tariff payments by the system beneficiaries are high, leading to underinvestment in the community’s maintenance fund that threatens the long-term sustainability of the project.

Technical causes:

  • Some people don’t receive water during the dry season, or at times when river crossings or leaks cause temporary outages. Also, during the first year of service after a water system is constructed, there are various “bugs” in the system that need to be fixed, and typically lead to temporary outages. Beneficiaries rightly don’t want to pay during periods of time when they feel their level of service is not high.
  • Some people claim that they didn’t use any water during the previous month, so they shouldn’t have to pay a tariff. Installing water meters at each household might alleviate this problem, although families could easily claim that their meter is broken or not working correctly to continue avoiding their payments.
  • In some of our older water systems, individual shutoff valves for individual household tapstands were not installed, making it impossible to cut off a household’s access to water if they do not pay their tariff. Newer systems do feature shutoff valves for each household beneficiary, but enforcement is still difficult because 1) many of these valves are located on the beneficiary’s own property in neighborhoods that are clustered around a road, and 2) Waslalans are very resourceful and would likely find a way to access the shutoff valve and turn back on their water.

Organizational causes:

  • Tariff payments are collected at monthly community meetings organized by the community’s elected 6-9 member water leadership team. If a household does not show up at the meeting, they can avoid paying their tariff for the month. Enforcement of paying the monthly tariff is currently difficult, since it requires time-consuming visits to each household that did not attend the monthly meeting by the water leadership team. Moreover, these visits are difficult because it involves neighbors pressuring other neighbors to pay their bill, which is especially difficult in the highly politically and religiously polarized region of Waslala.

Even though all beneficiaries are made aware of the fact that their connection will be shut off if they do not pay their tariff, water committee members find it difficult to enforce this rule and cut off their neighbors, for fear of igniting a conflict in their community.

  • Some people have complained that they have been approached by the water system treasurer more than once in the same month, asking for their tariff payment for the month. Some water system leadership teams do not give receipts to each customer after payment is received, and do not share information about the balance of the maintenance fund account that is fed by these tariffs, so mistrust of the system by some beneficiaries is high.

Questions for Advisory Committee

  1. What ideas do you have, or what solutions have you seen other organizations implement, that could address some of the technical or organizational causes of tariff delinquency WfW faces for its completed gravity-fed projects?
  2. How do other organizations structure the collection of tariffs from customers in more rural settings? Should Water for Waslala’s water system leaders consider another means of collecting tariffs instead of doing so via monthly community meetings?
  3. Are you aware of any WASH sector data on tariff delinquency rates for completed community level water systems, aggregated by urban, peri-urban and rural settings or geographic regions of the world, that we could use for benchmarking purposes?
click to hide/show revision 3
No.3 Revision

collection of monthly tarriffs

I am an adviser to a small NGO doing community-based gravity-fed water systems in the northern mountains of Nicaragua called Water for Waslala (WFW). I have been in touch with the organization for many years and have seen it grow from an idea to its current stage, hoping to take their work to the next level.

They are currently trying to solve the ubiquitous problems associated with collection and enforcement of monthly tariffs from beneficiaries of gravity-fed water systems. I gave them my advice and some additional leads, but was wondering if you might have any contacts with experience implementing innovative strategies for water payment collection? Or perchance someone with data showing success rates of various strategies?

I have attached a Backgrounder and Problem Statement that has been developed by WFW, which explains the problems and specific questions that WFW staff have. If you or anyone that comes to mind could provide a response to the questions, I know it would be much appreciated. Just having finished talking with WFW, they said it would be great as well if you could possibly distribute the attached document to your mailing list of relevant RedR members around the world who respond to technical queries.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Best,

Rob

click to hide/show revision 4
No.4 Revision

collection of monthly tarriffs

I am an adviser to a small NGO doing community-based gravity-fed water systems in the northern mountains of Nicaragua called Water for Waslala (WFW). I have been in touch with the organization for many years and have seen it grow from an idea to its current stage, hoping to take their work to the next level.

They are currently trying to solve the ubiquitous problems associated with collection and enforcement of monthly tariffs from beneficiaries of gravity-fed water systems. I gave them my advice and some additional leads, but was wondering if you might have any contacts with experience implementing innovative strategies for water payment collection? Or perchance someone with data showing success rates of various strategies?

I have attached a Backgrounder and Problem Statement that has been developed by WFW, which explains the problems and specific questions that WFW staff have. If you or anyone that comes to mind could provide a response to the questions, I know it would be much appreciated. Just having finished talking with WFW, they said it would be great as well if you could possibly distribute the attached document to your mailing list of relevant RedR members around the world who respond to technical queries.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Best,

Rob

click to hide/show revision 5
No.5 Revision

collection of monthly tarriffs

I am an adviser to a small NGO doing community-based gravity-fed water systems in the northern mountains of Nicaragua called Water for Waslala (WFW). I have been in touch with the organization for many years and have seen it grow from an idea to its current stage, hoping to take their work to the next level.

They are currently trying to solve the ubiquitous problems associated with collection and enforcement of monthly tariffs from beneficiaries of gravity-fed water systems. I gave them my advice and some additional leads, but was wondering if you might have any contacts with experience implementing innovative strategies for water payment collection? Or perchance someone with data showing success rates of various strategies?

I have attached a Backgrounder and Problem Statement that has been developed by WFW, which explains the problems and specific questions that WFW staff have. If you or anyone that comes to mind could provide a response to the questions, I know it would be much appreciated. Just having finished talking with WFW, they said it would be great as well if you could possibly distribute the attached document to your mailing list of relevant RedR members around the world who respond to technical queries.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Best,

Rob

Background document

Background and Discussion Topics for WfW Advisory Committee November 6-12, 2012 Collection and Enforcement of Monthly Tariffs from Beneficiaries of WfW Gravity- Fed Water Systems

Problem statement: after a Water for Waslala gravity-fed water system is built in a given rural community in Waslala, delinquency rates on tariff payments by the system beneficiaries are high, leading to underinvestment in the community’s maintenance fund that threatens the long-term sustainability of the project.

Technical causes:

  • List item

    Some people don’t receive water during the dry season, or at times when river crossings or leaks cause temporary outages. Also, during the first year of service after a water system is constructed, there are various “bugs” in the system that need to be fixed, and typically lead to temporary outages. Beneficiaries rightly don’t want to pay during periods of time when they feel their level of service is not high.

  • List item

    Some people claim that they didn’t use any water during the previous month, so they shouldn’t have to pay a tariff. Installing water meters at each household might alleviate this problem, although families could easily claim that their meter is broken or not working correctly to continue avoiding their payments.

  • List item

In some of our older water systems, individual shutoff valves for individual household tapstands were not installed, making it impossible to cut off a household’s access to water if they do not pay their tariff. Newer systems do feature shutoff valves for each household beneficiary, but enforcement is still difficult because 1) many of these valves are located on the beneficiary’s own property in neighborhoods that are clustered around a road, and 2) Waslalans are very resourceful and would likely find a way to access the shutoff valve and turn back on their water. Organizational causes:

  1. List item

    Tariff payments are collected at monthly community meetings organized by the community’s elected 6-9 member water leadership team. If a household does not show up at the meeting, they can avoid paying their tariff for the month. Enforcement of paying the monthly tariff is currently difficult, since it requires time-consuming visits to each household that did not attend the monthly meeting by the water leadership team. Moreover, these visits are difficult because it involves neighbors pressuring other neighbors to pay their bill, which is especially difficult in the highly politically and religiously polarized region of Waslala. Even though all beneficiaries are made aware of the fact that their connection will be shut off if they do not pay their tariff, water committee members find it difficult to enforce this rule and cut off their neighbors, for fear of igniting a conflict in their community.

  2. List item

    Some people have complained that they have been approached by the water system treasurer more than once in the same month, asking for their tariff payment for the month. Some water system leadership teams do not give receipts to each customer after payment is received, and do not share information about the balance of the maintenance fund account that is fed by these tariffs, so mistrust of the system by some beneficiaries is high.

strong textQuestions for Advisory Committee

  • List item

    What ideas do you have, or what solutions have you seen other organizations implement, that could address some of the technical or organizational causes of tariff delinquency WfW faces for its completed gravity-fed projects?

  • List item

    How do other organizations structure the collection of tariffs from customers in more rural settings? Should Water for Waslala’s water system leaders consider another means of collecting tariffs instead of doing so via monthly community meetings?

  • List item

Are you aware of any WASH sector data on tariff delinquency rates for completed communitylevel water systems, aggregated by urban, peri-urban and rural settings or geographic regions of the world, that we could use for benchmarking purposes?

click to hide/show revision 6
No.6 Revision
KnowledgePointAdmin gravatar image
RedR CCDRR

collection of monthly tarriffs

I am an adviser to a small NGO doing community-based gravity-fed water systems in the northern mountains of Nicaragua called Water for Waslala (WFW). I have been in touch with the organization for many years and have seen it grow from an idea to its current stage, hoping to take their work to the next level.

They are currently trying to solve the ubiquitous problems associated with collection and enforcement of monthly tariffs from beneficiaries of gravity-fed water systems. I gave them my advice and some additional leads, but was wondering if you might have any contacts with experience implementing innovative strategies for water payment collection? Or perchance someone with data showing success rates of various strategies?

I have attached a Backgrounder Backgrounder and Problem Statement that has been developed by WFW, which explains the problems and specific questions that WFW staff have. If you or anyone that comes to mind could provide a response to the questions, I know it would be much appreciated. Just having finished talking with WFW, they said it would be great as well if you could possibly distribute the attached document to your mailing list of relevant RedR members around the world who respond to technical queries.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Best,

Rob

Background document

Background and Discussion Topics for WfW Questions for Advisory Committee

Questions for Advisory Committee November 6-12, 2012 Collection and Enforcement of Monthly Tariffs from Beneficiaries of WfW Gravity- Fed Water Systems

Problem statement: after a Water for Waslala gravity-fed water system is built in a given rural community in Waslala, delinquency rates on tariff payments by the system beneficiaries are high, leading to underinvestment in the community’s maintenance fund that threatens the long-term sustainability of the project.

Technical causes:

  • List item

    Some people don’t receive water during the dry season, or at times when river crossings or leaks cause temporary outages. Also, during the first year of service after a water system is constructed, there are various “bugs” in the system that need to be fixed, and typically lead to temporary outages. Beneficiaries rightly don’t want to pay during periods of time when they feel their level of service is not high.

  • List item

    Some people claim that they didn’t use any water during the previous month, so they shouldn’t have to pay a tariff. Installing water meters at each household might alleviate this problem, although families could easily claim that their meter is broken or not working correctly to continue avoiding their payments.

  • List item

In some of our older water systems, individual shutoff valves for individual household tapstands were not installed, making it impossible to cut off a household’s access to water if they do not pay their tariff. Newer systems do feature shutoff valves for each household beneficiary, but enforcement is still difficult because 1) many of these valves are located on the beneficiary’s own property in neighborhoods that are clustered around a road, and 2) Waslalans are very resourceful and would likely find a way to access the shutoff valve and turn back on their water. Organizational causes:

  1. List item

    Tariff payments are collected at monthly community meetings organized by the community’s elected 6-9 member water leadership team. If a household does not show up at the meeting, they can avoid paying their tariff for the month. Enforcement of paying the monthly tariff is currently difficult, since it requires time-consuming visits to each household that did not attend the monthly meeting by the water leadership team. Moreover, these visits are difficult because it involves neighbors pressuring other neighbors to pay their bill, which is especially difficult in the highly politically and religiously polarized region of Waslala. Even though all beneficiaries are made aware of the fact that their connection will be shut off if they do not pay their tariff, water committee members find it difficult to enforce this rule and cut off their neighbors, for fear of igniting a conflict in their community.

  2. List item

    Some people have complained that they have been approached by the water system treasurer more than once in the same month, asking for their tariff payment for the month. Some water system leadership teams do not give receipts to each customer after payment is received, and do not share information about the balance of the maintenance fund account that is fed by these tariffs, so mistrust of the system by some beneficiaries is high.

strong textQuestions for Advisory Committee

  • List item

    What ideas do you have, or what solutions have you seen other organizations implement, that that could address some of the technical or organizational causes of tariff delinquency WfW faces for for its completed gravity-fed projects?

  • List item

    projects?  How do other organizations structure the collection of tariffs from customers in more rural rural settings? Should Water for Waslala’s water system leaders consider another means of collecting collecting tariffs instead of doing so via monthly community meetings?

  • List item

meetings?  Are you aware of any WASH sector data on tariff delinquency rates for completed communitylevel community- level water systems, aggregated by urban, peri-urban and rural settings or geographic regions of of the world, that we could use for benchmarking purposes?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

click to hide/show revision 7
No.7 Revision
KnowledgePointAdmin gravatar image
RedR CCDRR

collection of monthly tarriffs

I am an adviser to a small NGO doing community-based gravity-fed water systems in the northern mountains of Nicaragua called Water for Waslala (WFW). I have been in touch with the organization for many years and have seen it grow from an idea to its current stage, hoping to take their work to the next level.

They are currently trying to solve the ubiquitous problems associated with collection and enforcement of monthly tariffs from beneficiaries of gravity-fed water systems. I gave them my advice and some additional leads, but was wondering if you might have any contacts with experience implementing innovative strategies for water payment collection? Or perchance someone with data showing success rates of various strategies?

I have attached a Backgrounder and Problem Statement that has been developed by WFW, which explains the problems and specific questions that WFW staff have. If you or anyone that comes to mind could provide a response to the questions, I know it would be much appreciated. Just having finished talking with WFW, they said it would be great as well if you could possibly distribute the attached document to your mailing list of relevant RedR members around the world who respond to technical queries.

Questions for Advisory Committee

Questions for Advisory Committee  What ideas do you have, or what solutions have you seen other organizations implement, that could address some of the technical or organizational causes of tariff delinquency WfW faces for its completed gravity-fed projects? projects?

 How do other organizations structure the collection of tariffs from customers in more rural settings? Should Water for Waslala’s water system leaders consider another means of collecting tariffs instead of doing so via monthly community meetings? meetings?

 Are you aware of any WASH sector data on tariff delinquency rates for completed community- level water systems, aggregated by urban, peri-urban and rural settings or geographic regions of the world, that we could use for benchmarking purposes?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

click to hide/show revision 8
No.8 Revision
KnowledgePointAdmin gravatar image
RedR CCDRR

collection Collection of monthly tarriffs tariffs - Innovative Water Payment Strategies

I am an adviser to a small NGO doing community-based gravity-fed water systems in the northern mountains of Nicaragua called Water for Waslala (WFW). I have been in touch with the organization for many years and have seen it grow from an idea to its current stage, hoping to take their work to the next level.

They are currently trying to solve the ubiquitous problems associated with collection and enforcement of monthly tariffs from beneficiaries of gravity-fed water systems. I gave them my advice and some additional leads, but was wondering if you might have any contacts with experience implementing innovative strategies for water payment collection? Or perchance someone with data showing success rates of various strategies?

I have attached a Backgrounder and Problem Statement that has been developed by WFW, which explains the problems and specific questions that WFW staff have. If you or anyone that comes to mind could provide a response to the questions, I know it would be much appreciated. Just having finished talking with WFW, they said it would be great as well if you could possibly distribute the attached document to your mailing list of relevant RedR members around the world who respond to technical queries.

Questions for Advisory Committee

 What ideas do you have, or what solutions have you seen other organizations implement, that could address some of the technical or organizational causes of tariff delinquency WfW faces for its completed gravity-fed projects?

 How do other organizations structure the collection of tariffs from customers in more rural settings? Should Water for Waslala’s water system leaders consider another means of collecting tariffs instead of doing so via monthly community meetings?

 Are you aware of any WASH sector data on tariff delinquency rates for completed community- level water systems, aggregated by urban, peri-urban and rural settings or geographic regions of the world, that we could use for benchmarking purposes?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

click to hide/show revision 9
No.9 Revision
KnowledgePointAdmin gravatar image
RedR CCDRR

Collection of monthly tariffs - Innovative Water Payment Strategies

I am an adviser to a small NGO doing community-based gravity-fed water systems in the northern mountains of Nicaragua called Water for Waslala (WFW). I have been in touch with the organization for many years and have seen it grow from an idea to its current stage, hoping to take their work to the next level.

They are currently trying to solve the ubiquitous problems associated with collection and enforcement of monthly tariffs from beneficiaries of gravity-fed water systems. I gave them my advice and some additional leads, but was wondering if you might have any contacts with experience implementing innovative strategies for water payment collection? Or perchance someone with data showing success rates of various strategies?

I have attached a Backgrounder and Problem Statement that has been developed by WFW, which explains the problems and specific questions that WFW staff have. If you or anyone that comes to mind could provide a response to the questions, I know it would be much appreciated. Just having finished talking with WFW, they said it would be great as well if you could possibly distribute the attached document to your mailing list of relevant RedR members around the world who respond to technical queries.

Questions for Advisory Committee

 What ideas do you have, or what solutions have you seen other organizations implement, that could address some of the technical or organizational causes of tariff delinquency WfW faces for its completed gravity-fed projects?

 How do other organizations structure the collection of tariffs from customers in more rural settings? Should Water for Waslala’s water system leaders consider another means of collecting tariffs instead of doing so via monthly community meetings?

 Are you aware of any WASH sector data on tariff delinquency rates for completed community- level water systems, aggregated by urban, peri-urban and rural settings or geographic regions of the world, that we could use for benchmarking purposes?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Rob

click to hide/show revision 10
No.10 Revision
KnowledgePointAdmin gravatar image
RedR CCDRR

Collection of monthly tariffs - Innovative Water Payment Strategies

I am an adviser to a small NGO doing community-based gravity-fed water systems in the northern mountains of Nicaragua called Water for Waslala (WFW). I have been in touch with the organization for many years and have seen it grow from an idea to its current stage, hoping to take their work to the next level.

They are currently trying to solve the ubiquitous problems associated with collection and enforcement of monthly tariffs from beneficiaries of gravity-fed water systems. I gave them my advice and some additional leads, but was wondering if you might have any contacts with experience implementing innovative strategies for water payment collection? Or perchance someone with data showing success rates of various strategies?

I have attached a Backgrounder and Problem Statement that has been developed by WFW, which explains the problems and specific questions that WFW staff have. If you or anyone that comes to mind could provide a response to the questions, I know it would be much appreciated. Just having finished talking with WFW, they said it would be great as well if you could possibly distribute the attached document to your mailing list of relevant RedR members around the world who respond to technical queries.

Questions for Advisory Committee

 What ideas do you have, or what solutions have you seen other organizations implement, that could address some of the technical or organizational causes of tariff delinquency WfW faces for its completed gravity-fed projects?

 How do other organizations structure the collection of tariffs from customers in more rural settings? Should Water for Waslala’s water system leaders consider another means of collecting tariffs instead of doing so via monthly community meetings?

 Are you aware of any WASH sector data on tariff delinquency rates for completed community- level water systems, aggregated by urban, peri-urban and rural settings or geographic regions of the world, that we could use for benchmarking purposes?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Rob

click to hide/show revision 11
retagged
KnowledgePointAdmin gravatar image
RedR CCDRR

Collection of monthly tariffs - Innovative Water Payment Strategies

I am an adviser to a small NGO doing community-based gravity-fed water systems in the northern mountains of Nicaragua called Water for Waslala (WFW). I have been in touch with the organization for many years and have seen it grow from an idea to its current stage, hoping to take their work to the next level.

They are currently trying to solve the ubiquitous problems associated with collection and enforcement of monthly tariffs from beneficiaries of gravity-fed water systems. I gave them my advice and some additional leads, but was wondering if you might have any contacts with experience implementing innovative strategies for water payment collection? Or perchance someone with data showing success rates of various strategies?

I have attached a Backgrounder and Problem Statement that has been developed by WFW, which explains the problems and specific questions that WFW staff have. If you or anyone that comes to mind could provide a response to the questions, I know it would be much appreciated. Just having finished talking with WFW, they said it would be great as well if you could possibly distribute the attached document to your mailing list of relevant RedR members around the world who respond to technical queries.

Questions for Advisory Committee

 What ideas do you have, or what solutions have you seen other organizations implement, that could address some of the technical or organizational causes of tariff delinquency WfW faces for its completed gravity-fed projects?

 How do other organizations structure the collection of tariffs from customers in more rural settings? Should Water for Waslala’s water system leaders consider another means of collecting tariffs instead of doing so via monthly community meetings?

 Are you aware of any WASH sector data on tariff delinquency rates for completed community- level water systems, aggregated by urban, peri-urban and rural settings or geographic regions of the world, that we could use for benchmarking purposes?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Rob

click to hide/show revision 12
retagged
KnowledgePointAdmin gravatar image
RedR CCDRR

Collection of monthly tariffs - Innovative Water Payment Strategies

I am an adviser to a small NGO doing community-based gravity-fed water systems in the northern mountains of Nicaragua called Water for Waslala (WFW). I have been in touch with the organization for many years and have seen it grow from an idea to its current stage, hoping to take their work to the next level.

They are currently trying to solve the ubiquitous problems associated with collection and enforcement of monthly tariffs from beneficiaries of gravity-fed water systems. I gave them my advice and some additional leads, but was wondering if you might have any contacts with experience implementing innovative strategies for water payment collection? Or perchance someone with data showing success rates of various strategies?

I have attached a Backgrounder and Problem Statement that has been developed by WFW, which explains the problems and specific questions that WFW staff have. If you or anyone that comes to mind could provide a response to the questions, I know it would be much appreciated. Just having finished talking with WFW, they said it would be great as well if you could possibly distribute the attached document to your mailing list of relevant RedR members around the world who respond to technical queries.

Questions for Advisory Committee

 What ideas do you have, or what solutions have you seen other organizations implement, that could address some of the technical or organizational causes of tariff delinquency WfW faces for its completed gravity-fed projects?

 How do other organizations structure the collection of tariffs from customers in more rural settings? Should Water for Waslala’s water system leaders consider another means of collecting tariffs instead of doing so via monthly community meetings?

 Are you aware of any WASH sector data on tariff delinquency rates for completed community- level water systems, aggregated by urban, peri-urban and rural settings or geographic regions of the world, that we could use for benchmarking purposes?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Rob