Improving revenue management for sustainable rural water services: innovative prepaid water system

According to the Tanzania Water and Sanitation Network’s 2009 national water point mapping survey, 46% of all public, improved water points were non-functioning. In the Karatu District in northern Tanzania, community-owned water supply organizations (COWSOs), Karatu Village Water Supply (KAVIWASU) and Endamarariek/Endabash Water Supply (ENDAWASU), experienced 39 and 34% non-revenue water, respectively. To improve revenue collection and water supply services, the Revolutionizing Remittance Recovery in Water (R3W) project built the capacity of KAVIWASU and ENDAWASU to install and manage a prepaid water technology. Results to date show that revenues increased by 201%, downtime reduced from 1 week to less than a day, COWSOs’ technical and management skills improved and there was greater customer satisfaction with the new technology.