into the market to directly pay for expenses, government could instead use resources to support households and water committees to alleviate financial obstacles via increased access to credit or other financial alternatives. Government could help committees navigate credit markets including training in financial management skills such as accounting, provide subsidies or other alternatives if loan terms appear too onerous for certain communities, and provide technical assistance to ensure water system infrastructure is both sound from an engineering perspective but also sustained financially through appropriate tariff structures.
Post-Construction Support to Water Systems
Most outside support provided to rural communities in the development and management of their water systems is during pre-construction and the construction phase itself. For the postconstruction phase, communities are often seen to be more independent in the management of their water systems, including taking responsibility for resolving maintenance issues, repairs, tariffs, new users, etc. In some cases, water committees are able to manage their systems with little difficulty; however, in much of LAC there is need for post-water system-construction support
Box 2: Circuit-Riders In many markets in LAC, post-construction support is provided through what is known as a “CircuitRider” model, whereby water committees can consult water system technicians and experts for questions and challenges they are encountering that are beyond their capacity to resolve on their own. Within this model, the private sector plays a key role in the sustainability of a high level of service quality for community water systems, responding to community needs efficiently and effectively. In many instances, circuit-riders and water system technicians are often strongly linked to largerscale associations of water committees, entities that provide a significant support mechanism to smaller-scale water committees when they face challenges with the management of water system infrastructure and service delivery. In El Salvador, ASSA (Asociación Salvadoreña de Servicios de Agua), and in Honduras, AHJASA (Asociación Hondureña de Juntas de Agua y Saneamiento), are two examples of water associations that utilize a private circuit-rider model for post-construction support provision to member water committees.
mechanisms, primarily through technical assistance around maintenance, larger-scale repairs, rehabilitation or expansion, and occasionally in financial management and optimization of tariff frameworks. In many countries, there is a developing private sector around post construction support (see Circuit-Rider Model example), involving water system repair technicians, or experts in other aspects of water system management, who respond to individual water committees’ maintenance or repair needs. These models have applicability throughout the region, and more support (e.g. training, assistance with business development, linkages with water committees, assistance with promotion and marketing of services, utilization of information and monitoring platforms to more time-efficiently respond to problems, etc.) could Water System Repair in Central America--Photo Courtesy of Paul Hicks and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and should be provided by the public sector
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