This study explores the potential of prepaid meters for serving urban poor communities. It provides urban utilities, oversight agencies, and other stakeholders in Africa with a basis for decision-making on the suitability, introduction, and management of such meters. The need for the assessment...

Access to water and sanitation is indeed a human right; however quality water and sanitation service provision should not be assumed a ‘free service’ as a result. Hence it is crucial to understand the costs involved of monopoly water service provision to enable informed decision-making on...

Access to safe and sufficient drinking water and adequate sanitation are now recognized as basic human rights. One Millennium Development Goal is to reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. However, ensuring sustainability of...

This study explores the potential of prepaid meters for serving urban poor communities. It provides urban utilities, oversight agencies, and other stakeholders in Africa with a basis for decision-making on the suitability, introduction, and management of such meters. The need for the assessment...

Stakeholder participation may act as a substitute for the missing feedback links between (monopoly) water service providers and consumers. In the urban water sector, progress towards effective engagement with the general public is lagging behind the rhetoric, with even fewer attempts to engage...

The failure of many developing countries water utilities to provide adequate services to low-income urban populations stands in marked contrast with calls for universal access to water services, often based on a concept of human rights. Much of the parallel, regulation oriented, 'universal...

Summary Economic regulation is being introduced into the water services sector in developing economies, where widespread poverty and service inadequacies affect regulatory rationales. This paper analyzes the regulatory experience in 11 metropolitan areas with respect to the challenge of reaching...