Document

B. van Koppen, S. Smits, P. Moriarty, and F. Penning de Vries: Community-scale multiple-use water services: ‘MUS to climb the water ladder’

The Challenge Program on Water and Food-supported MUS project (PN28) developed and tested ‘multiple-use water services’ (‘MUS’). This new approach to water services takes multiple water needs of rural and peri-urban communities as the starting point for planning and design of new systems or rehabilitations. By overcoming the administrative boundaries between single-use sectors, MUS contributes more sustainably to more dimensions of wellbeing than single-use approaches: health, freedom from drudgery, food and income. The action-research took place in 25 study areas in eight countries in five basins. The project brought global, national, intermediate-level and local partners together who were champions of MUS at the time in five benchmark basins of the Challenge Programme on Water and Food (CPWF). At community-level, the project identified generic models for implementing MUS. This was done through pilot-implementation of innovative multiple-use water services and by analyzing de facto multiple uses of single-use planned systems. It was found that by providing 50-100 lpcd, so doubling or tripling the common design norms in the domestic sector, multiple cost-effective benefits could be achieved from homestead-scale MUS. At the intermediate, national, and global level, the project’s ‘learning alliances’ engaged in the wide upscaling of these community-level MUS models, with the aim to establish an enabling environment to provide every rural and peri-urban water user with water for multiple uses. [authors abstract]

S. Smits, B. van Koppen and P. Moriarty: Characterising the multiple use approach at community level: findings from case studies in 8 countries

Multiple-use services (MUS) have gained increased attention, as an approach to of providing water services that meet people’s multiple water needs in an integrated manner. This paper tries to characterise key elements of mus at community level, and assesses performance through a review of case studies conducted in Bolivia, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, South Africa, Thailand and Zimbabwe. The cases show that people almost universally use water for domestic and productive activities at and around the homestead. The case studies demonstrate how levels of access can be provided by different types and combinations of technologies, and incremental changes made. These need to be accompanied by additional financial and management measures to ensure sustainability of services. The additional requirements posed are considered not to be insurmountable and can all be addressed in a feasible manner, and often justified by the additional benefits. [authors abstract]

D. Renault: Service Oriented Management and Multiple Uses of Water in Modernizing Large Irrigation Systems

20 large irrigation systems (average system size is 171.000 ha) mainly in Asia are scrutinized for multiple uses, functions and purposes. Most of them have been investigated by FAO as part of its program on irrigation modernization. The concept of Service Oriented Management (SOM) is central in the latest developed approach, called MASSCOTE [Mapping Systems and Services for Canal Operation Techniques]. This SOM approach on irrigation systems paves the way to identifying multiple uses and functions of water services within the gross command area of these systems. Analysis shows that only two systems out of 20 can be classified strictly as single use, all the other systems, are dealing, with varying degree, with multiple water uses, multiple functions, and/or externalities within their command area and therefore can be qualified as medium or high Multiple Uses of Water Services (MUS) system. Not many irrigation systems are designed/developed for providing service for multiple water uses, or are integrating MUS in absolute terms, but not many systems rank high in service oriented management either. However many systems (7) are already following practices related to MUS, only 6 systems have low MUS integration. It is found that the higher the degree of MUS the higher the integration of SOM in the management. High SOM level goes always with high integration of any other use when practiced in the command area. For some low SOM systems integration of MUSF in the management is still made at a similar low level as the one practice for crop water services. [authors abstract]

S. Noel: Sources of Water for Household Enterprises in Rural Vietnam

Small-scale productive activities undertaken in and around the household (e.g., kitchen gardens, raising of livestock, small businesses) require adequate quality and quantities of domestic water to operate. The research analyzed 189 purpose-collected household surveys from 6 villages in 3 provinces in rural areas of Vietnam to investigate patterns of use of domestic water and the impact on household-based productive activities. The findings indicate that these enterprises almost exclusively used ecosystem water, primarily well water, rainwater and water from rivers and lakes. This result held even in villages where piped water was available within the household plot. The conclusions emphasize the importance of natural capital in rural livelihood activities and suggest that patterns of development which draw down wealth in terms of natural capital stocks may adversely affect the poor in developing countries in the long run, even while raising GDP per capita in the short to medium term. [authors abstract]

The full paper has been published in the Water Policy journal.