Vietnam : evolving management models for small towns water supply in a transitional economy

In Vietnam access to safe water in urban areas is 61 percent. In rural communities an estimated 30 percent of residents have access to water that meets basic domestic requirements but only 10 percent have access to water that meets national quality standards for drinking water. The tendency to orient investment toward large cities has left the segment of small towns seriously neglected in terms of access to water supply services. Small towns often fall between two settlement types in many ways : 1) institutionally, 2) financially and 3) legally. According to the estimates from the Ministry of Construction 30 percent of small towns have piped water, and only 15 percents of the townlets. In most areas, the piped water service extends only a fraction of the population living in small towns and townlets, making the actual access to services significantly lower than these data reflect.

Small towns do not completely fit within either the urban or rural context. They are often considered too small to be managed institutionally, and to big for effective community management. The use of more customer-oriented approaches results in better overall performance, which supports evidence elsewhere in the world that demand-responsive approaches have a positive impact on systems’ sustainability.

This case study analysed problems, trends and opportunities in performance of different small towns by looking into the institutional, financial, social and technical performance of these systems. Investigated is, whether there is a best practice model, the economic scale and how to serve the poor.