Cost recovery and sustainability of donor funded rural water supply projects: a case of hai District Water supply project in the Kilimanjaro region

In the past, the Government and other donor agencies planned and constructed water supply schemes with little involvement of the benefiting communities. This approach led to a lack of commitment by the beneficiaries to safeguard the facilities. This study focused on cost recovery and community participation as one strategy, which could contribute to the sustainability of water and sanitation services provision. A study was conducted in seven villages in the Hai District of which six are served by the UBWST and one is under LFWST. Data was collected from 80 water users, seven village water committees and the managements UBWST and LFWST. The goal of this study was to find out the extent to which cost recovery is contributing to the sustainability of water supply schemes, how operation and maintenance was carried out, the role of the village water committees in the management of water supply and the composition of village water committees From the results of the study it was found out that each of the schemes has a skilled technical team in place for operation and maintenance. With a current tariff of Tsh 350/ms, about 94% of UBWST water users visited were willing and able to pay for water. Only 6% were willing to pay but their problem was the ability to pay as they felt that the tariff was too high. From the LFWST water supply system all respondents were willing and able to pay for their water. The study revealed that leadership positions are dominated by men since only Uswaa village water committee is chaired by a woman and Kware village water committee's secretary is also a woman. Finally, the study also found out that people are more willing to safeguard their water sources and pay for water if they take part in the management of their water schemes_