Tool 12

TOOL 12. HOUSEHOLD QUESTIONNAIRE ON WATER RESOURCES, INFRASTRUCTURE, WATER DEMAND AND USE

To collect detailed information on water demand and use for different uses, and access to and use of water resources and water infrastructure for different uses.

OBJECTIVE

To collect detailed information on water demand and use for different uses, and access to and use of water resources and water infrastructure for different uses.

METHOD

Step 1: Select the households to be involved in the household survey. This can be done by random sampling, or by targeting households within certain socio-economic or water user groups, which can be identified using Tool 3.

Step 2: Develop a household survey questionnaire and administer the questionnaire.

Step 3: Process and analyse the results and feed it back to the community.

Examples of questions:

General questions

  • How many people live in the house?

Water demand and use

  • What are the different uses of water within the household?
  • How much water is used in the house each day?
  • Who collects the water?
  • How many times a day do the household inhabitants take a bath?
  • How long does it take to go to the source to fetch water (round trip)?
  • How much water can be transported in one trip?
  • How many times a day must water be fetched?
  • Do you have livestock / pets? What kind? How many?
  • Do you grow crops? What? What is the planted area per crop type?
  • Do you consider the amount of water available for different uses to be adequate?
  • If not, how much water is actually needed for different uses?
  • What is the most important use of water (kitchen / bathroom / animals / plants / other)?
  • Are you satisfied with the service of current water supply?
  • Do all households have equal access to water? Why? What? Who?
  • Is there willingness to pay for water? How much would you pay? What type of service do you expect to get from paying that amount?

Water resources and infrastructure

  • Is water used in the home for different uses from a single source or multiple sources?
  • What are the sources of water for different uses?
  • Do you have systems for storing water? If so, what is the capacity?
  • How far away are the different sources?
  • When designing the questionnaire, think about the coding of the questions and answers in order to facilitate processing and analysis of the data, especially in case of a big sample size.

TIPS AND TRICKS

  • When designing the questionnaire, think about the coding of the questions and answers in order to facilitate processing and analysis of the data, especially in case of a big sample size.

BASED ON

CINARA, 2007. Lineamientos para el diseño y administracion de sistemas de abastecimiento de agua bajo el enfoque de usos multiples, Cali: Instituto Cinara – Universidad del Valle. Available from:http://www.musgroup.net/home/activities/the_cpwf_mus_project/basins_countries/andean_basin_cpwf_mus_studies/andes_in_english/andes_basin_outputs/guidelines_for_planning_and_management_of_mus_systems/(language)/eng-GB.

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING

WASHCost, 2011. Life-Cycle Cost Approach Indicator list. Available at:http://www.washcost.info/page/1430.