Costing calculation of operation and maintenance in community water supplies.

Abstract

Studies of community water have been on the increase since the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, 1981 - 1990. However there is some key areas of community water supply that still require research as the literature survey in this thesis illustrates. The Operation and Maintenance of community water supplies has been identified to be as important in sustainability of the services as the institutional factors. Due to the increased number of failure of the community water supplies to continue operation after short periods of time compared to urban water supplies, effort is required to identify the least amount of in puts to ensure continued operation. Through literature survey and field collection of data on management of existing projects a model was developed in order to calculate the minimum amount of funds required for the operation and maintenance. The research showed that the current monthly charges by water committees were sufficient to operate and maintain the systems. The initial calculations using the model also revealed that the current charges would not be sufficient to pay replacement costs. The presence of subsidisation through materials and labour by the central government requires planners to study each project thoroughly before the determination of monthly costs. The conclusion was that further research and data collection was required for the determination of the replacement cost. The model was found to be capable of assisting planners, managers and engineers in the calculation of the cost of operation and maintenance of community water supplies.