Household willingness to contribute financially to improve rural water access in Tunisia

Abstract

Within the context of Tunisia’s ongoing water sector reforms that aim to develop a long-term strategy to ensure the reliability and sustainability of supply in rural areas, this study aims to examine the willingness of households individually connected to locally managed water networks to contribute financially towards the rehabilitation of an existing water supply system and the implementation of a new water supply system managed by the national operator. The findings indicate that households are willing to pay 22% of the per-household costs of rehabilitation of an existing locally managed network, representing the equivalent of 2.2 times the interprofessional guaranteed minimum wage (SMIG), and 16% of the per-household costs of setting up a new water supply network managed by the national operator, 3.4 times the SMIG. The findings also indicate that the willingness to contribute financially towards the implementation of a given project is influenced by household characteristics and the state of the water supply within a household.