Finding sustainable funding for WASH facility monitoring through nutrient recovery in southwest Uganda

The benefits of access to safe water supplies can be jeopardized by poor system functionality, often a result of inadequate financing for ongoing monitoring, operation, and maintenance. This study assessed the level of ongoing monitoring among water supply systems in Rukungiri District, southwest Uganda, and examined local stakeholder perspectives through household, institutional, and organizational surveys. System functionality was generally found to be inadequate. Furthermore, this study explored the possibility of financing ongoing water system costs by more closely linking water supply provision with resource recovery from sanitation. Certain sanitation technologies can recover nutrients from human excreta. The economic value of these nutrients may provide a sustainable source of funds sufficient to support a water system’s ongoing operation and monitoring. Coupling water supply and sanitation through nutrient recovery may provide opportunities to develop innovative financing strategies, simultaneously promoting greater water and sanitation access, sustainable resource flows, and continued water system functionality.