Factors impacting sustainability in rural drinking-water: an integrated approach in Paraguay

摘要

The research assesses the sustainability of a program intervention in drinking-water supply in 100 ruralcommunities in Paraguay and identifies the main factors and good practices that could correlate withhigher levels of sustainability for drinking-water supply systems. The research includes an integratedassessment of the technical systems, the governance of the community-based provider, and the user’sparticipation. A total of 100 drinking-water systems built between 2006 and 2010 were technically andoperationally revised. Surveys were conducted to 100 community-based sanitation boards (SB) and 450beneficiary households, using systematic random sampling in 30 rural communities. Preliminary resultssuggest that participation of the users, the institutional capacity of the SB, the external support of apublic institution – as SENASA in this case - and the reinforcement of maintenance activities seem to bekey aspects to keep sustainability in rural water systems in the medium and long term.