Regional umbrella organizations for sustainable management of rural piped water supply systems: Uganda’s experience and expectations

Abstract

Inadequate operation and maintenance (O&M) is one of the major threats to sustainable provision of water services in the developing world. Several small-scale piped water supply systems have been developed in Uganda to serve rural growth centers, but face stiff challenges in obtaining supplies and services required for effective O&M. Regional umbrella organizations were established to support small-scale water supply systems to address O&M challenges through economies of scale gained by association. The umbrella organizations to date support over 183 member schemes, with a total of over 22,000 connections, to provide sustainable water supply service through management oversight support and technical backstopping. Challenges still exist to ensure independent financial sustainability of the organizations and enhancement of capacity to address major capital replacements. Nonetheless, umbrella organizations offer hope of a sustainable approach to O&M support to small-scale piped water supply systems and are being rolled-out to cover the entire country.