The management committees of drinking water systems are generally able to carry out the daily management correctly and to take care of the ordinary maintenance. Often however these committees fail to tackle more exceptional and more complex problems. In addition, it is also hardly feasible for each committee to buy and store the necessary spare parts itself. Finally, individual user committees generally occupy a weak position in their negotiations with state structures, financing institutions or large private actors.

For this reason PROTOS also pays considerable attention to the advancement of independent service organisations and to the structuring of user committees. Experiments with mixed intercommunal groups of which both local authorities and the management committees of different drinking water systems are members, are performed. These groups have the necessary knowledge and financial means to cope with the above mentioned problems.

Studies and reports

“The drinking water supply in Flanders from 1800 to the present day: the drinking water supply in Flanders by intercommunal organisations can inspire local government in the South.”

Local government authorities in the South are currently faced with the need to organize the drinking water supply themselves as a result of the decentralization process which in most cases has either recently been implemented or is planned to be soon. Decentralization shifts this responsibility from central government to local government. Both the municipalities and the community-based organizations involved are currently looking for models how to organize drinking water supply in a decentralized manner. Under pressure from international moneylenders the municipalities or cities of the South are often influenced to opt for outsourcing this service, or large parts of it, to the private sector.
The public organization of the drinking water supply in Flanders and Belgium can serve as an inspiration for the South. All Belgians have access to drinking water at a social acceptable price.
An important stimulus was the initiative of the national government to promote cooperation between the municipalities, which resulted in the formation of the intercommunal (intermunicipal) drinking water organisations. By putting together their forces, there came a fairly rapid growth in building infrastructure for the drinking water distribution and the management and servicing improved considerably.

Costs : free of charge (excepted for postage charges).
To order at PROTOS, Flamingostraat 36, 9000 Gent Belgium, or via the form «Publications for sale».

“Good governance and users’ participation in public water supply management in urban and peri-urban zones from developing countries”, April 2004, 75p., English

This study tries to find an answer to the question "how can the public sector cooperate with the users in the South to obtain a good water management". It explores the challenges and different forms of user participation, by analysing a number of interesting examples of good management with an active user participation: Porto Alegre (Brazil), Itagua (Paraguay), Lusaka (Zambia) and Santa Cruz (Bolivia).