Evaluation of the effectiveness of water supply improvement projects: a case study of Blantyre Water Board, Malawi

Blantyre water board is mandated by the Malawi water Works Act no 17 of 1995 to supply portable water for commercial, industrial, institutional and domestic use in the supply area of Blantyre and surrounding areas. The board has been facing challenges in executing its duties mainly due to ; ageing infrastructure, increase in demand due to urbanization, high non-revenue water figures. The government of Malawi through funding from EU, EIB and World Bank embarked on projects to improve water supply services for Blantyre city which are implemented from the year 2007 to 2015. The projects in question included; Rehabilitation and capacity increase in Water pumping station and NRW reduction. This project aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of those projects. The objective was to assess the service level of the water utility before and after rehabilitation works and also the sustainability of the rehabilitated system. Research tools used include, field tests, Questionnaires to customers, Interviews and review of reports. The results show that: The service level of water utility is well established in the infrastructure quality (from 3.5-3.7) and accessibility indices but needs improvement in the affordability and infrastructure efficiency (2.24-2.22). the utility is sustainable (81% in 2010 and 84% in 2015) according to the results its sustainability is well established in the Environmental, institutional and political dimension and there in need to improve the social and economic dimensions. The project achieved the goals except for NRW%.