Water

Small Piped Water Networks: Key to Universal Water Access in Asia
April 2008

By K.E. Seetharam
Principal Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist, ADB

Small entrepreneurs should be tapped as strategic partners in delivering safe drinking water to more than 600 million people living in poor communities across Asia and the Pacific. This is the main message of the Regional Forum on “Innovation for Connecting the Poor: Small Piped Water Networks” held at ADB Headquarters in Manila on 17-18 April 2008.

ADB organized the forum to discuss innovative ways of providing safe water supply and sanitation services to meet the demands of rising populations and urban migration in the region.

Water utilities in many Asian cities are still unable to provide service to all of the population in the foreseeable future. Small scale water providers are sharing the role, but their services cost high—too much for Asia’s poor. Among these providers however, small piped water networks (SPWNs) stand out and are increasingly being recognized as an integral part of cities’ water development strategies.

During the forum’s workshop sessions, some participants from countries or cities that rely heavily on these water providers shared their urban water problems:

• In Colombo, Sri Lanka, where 30,000 families are living in slums, there is very limited space to lay out pipes and no drainage system is in place. Water connection is steep at 4,000 Sri Lankan rupees (about $37).
• In India’s cities, 20% of people live in slums and have no land titles—a major requirement in getting a water connection.
• In the Philippines, Viet Nam, and Thailand, the regulation of small scale water providers is a big issue, particularly in slums not serviced by the water utilities.

ADB is advocating for national and local governments to create the enabling environment in which water utility companies can partner with civil society and private companies that can build small piped water networks to give poor communities faster access to 24x7 safe drinking water at a reasonable cost. Previously, such services were often disregarded by officials as part of the informal sector.

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The forum discussed how investment projects can fund small piped water networks in addition to the operations of larger water utilities as is the case now. The objective is to connect all citizens to piped water services now, rather than have them wait for many more years.

The regional forum is a culmination of a technical assistance grant that supported small piped water networks in four pilot areas – two in Manila, Philippines, one in Tien Giang province in Viet Nam, and one in Ahmedabad in India.

The pilot projects in Manila brought piped water connections to 1,650 households in 4 short months. It also made possible a 3-year flexible installment scheme for connection charges. In Tien Gang, 9,200 meters of pipes for 500 sets of water connections have been installed in just 3 months, and now benefits 2,500 people. The Ahmedabad pilot benefitted 124 households with individual pipe connections and provided 30 toilet facilities.

As model SPWN projects, these pilots and their successes hope to inspire other utilities, water operators, and private sector partners in the region to embark on similar undertakings that would bring piped water connections to Asia’s urban poor households. A toolkit for upscaling and replicating these SPWN models is being developed by ADB.

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The pilot projects have demonstrated innovative ways of collaboration among government, private sector and civil society organizations and showed that small piped water networks can bring faster results and thereby help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This sets the stage for ADB and its clients to explore how they can be replicated in other cities under the ADB’s Water Financing Program 2006-2010.

Launched two years ago, the Water Financing Program is aimed at increasing investments in water services and water resource management, supported by reforms, capacity development and regional cooperation.

More than 50 government, business and civil society representatives from Southeast and South Asia, and representatives from Japan Bank for International Cooperation, World Bank, UN Habitat, GTZ, and US Agency for International Development participated in the regional forum.

Hopefully, more investments will come in for Asia’s water sector.