Financial performance of community-managed small-town water systems in north-western Ghana

Independent water pricing of small town water systems in Ghana

“…The WSMTs (during FGD) indicated that cost of electricity and spare parts are the key components of expenditure, and consequently, serve as the main determinants of the tariff levels. However, the financial performance analysis of the water systems revealed that salaries and allowances of the water systems management staff rather take a greater proportion (between 51.5% and 88.4%) of the expenditure (Fielmua, 2018).…”

“…The Region was purposively chosen for the study because of several factors. Community-based water management (CBWM) which relies on water fees to finance water operations (Fielmua, 2018) is constrained by poverty (Opare, 2011;Rouse, 2013;Wendy and Bakalian, 2009). As such, the Region which has the highest incidence of poverty (70.9%) (Ghana Statistics Service, 2018), makes it appropriate to examine the strategies that households use to maintain access to water.…”

“…The tariffs are set in a manner that will enable the Water and Sanitation Management Teams to meet operation and maintenance costs of the water systems. The main factors that determine setting of tariffs are cost of electricity and spare parts (Fielmua, 2018). The WSMTs (during FGD) indicated that cost of electricity and spare parts are the key components of expenditure, and consequently, serve as the main determinants of the tariff levels.…”

“…Efficient water pricing requires customers to pay a tariff that reflects the real cost of running the water services (Cooper et al, 2014). But some scholars have argued that rural communities are poor and cannot pay for capital replacement cost and other expenses such as operations and maintenance, thus creating a financial sustainability challenge of the water systems (Fielmua, 2018;Gonzalez-Gomez et al, 2011;Harvey and Reed, 2006;Kwangware et al, 2014). It was established that although community-based management appears to hold the key to service sustainability, it is constrained by rural poverty (Opare, 2011;Rouse, 2013;Wendy and Bakalian, 2009).…”

“…It has also been suggested that the multiple functions of water make it difficult and inappropriate to handle water pricing with a market-oriented approach (Heino and Takala, 2015). In community-based water management, revenue from the water systems through user charges constitute the main source of financing operations and maintenance of the water infrastructure (Fielmua, 2018). As a result, there is often pressure on water managers to increase tariffs to be able to cover cost while at the same time are required to be fair in water pricing even in difficult times (Heino and Takala, 2015).…”