Business models for delegated management of local water services : experience from Naivasha (Kenya)

This Topic Brief forms part of a newly initiated series of Practice Notes and Topic Briefs, through which WSUP aims to share experience and stimulate debate about water and sanitation service provision for the urban poor. The provision of water and sanitation services for low-income urban communities necessarily requires a number of different actors to cooperate. In the case of water supply these actors typically include one or more network operators, an asset owner, and a regulator. The Topic Brief describes a business model for delegated management of local water services, recently developed with WSUP support in the Kenyan Rift Valley town of Naivasha. This business model is designed to ensure affordable but high-quality services for consumers, profitability for the operators, and sufficient revenues for sustainable asset maintenance. The outline is given of a framework of agreements relating to delegated management of a local water supply network by a small private operator. A similar WSUP-supported delegated management agreement in Maputo, Mozambique is discussed. Delegated management agreements of this type have been documented previously in Manila in the Philippines, Ecuador, and Kisumu in Kenya.