Small Water Enterprise in Rural Rwanda: Business Development and Year-One Performance Evaluation of Nine Water Kiosks at Health Care Facilities

Alexandra Huttinger, Laura Brunson, Christine L. Moe, Kristin Roha, Providence Ngirimpuhwe, Leodomir Mfura, Felix Kayigamba, Philbert Ciza and Robert Dreibelbis
Additional contact information
Alexandra Huttinger: The Center for Global Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
Laura Brunson: The Center for Global Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
Christine L. Moe: The Center for Global Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
Kristin Roha: The Center for Global Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
Providence Ngirimpuhwe: The Access Project Rwanda, Kigali, Nyarugenge District, Rwanda
Leodomir Mfura: The Access Project Rwanda, Kigali, Nyarugenge District, Rwanda
Felix Kayigamba: The Access Project Rwanda, Kigali, Nyarugenge District, Rwanda
Philbert Ciza: The Republic of Rwanda Ministry of Health, Environmental Health Desk, Kigali, Kicukiro District, Rwanda
Robert Dreibelbis: School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, The University of Oklahoma, 4, Norman, OK 73019, USA

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-13

Abstract: Small water enterprises (SWEs) have lower capital expenditures than centralized systems, offering decentralized solutions for rural markets. This study evaluated SWEs in rural Rwanda, where nine health care facilities (HCF) owned and operated water kiosks supplying water from onsite water treatment systems (WTS). SWEs were monitored for 12 months. Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient (r s ) was used to evaluate correlations between demand for kiosk water and community characteristics, and between kiosk profit and factors influencing the cost model. On average, SWEs distributed 15,300 L/month. One SWE ran at a loss, four had profit margins of ?10% and four had profit margins of 45–75%. Factors influencing SWE performance were intermittent water supply (87% of SWE closures were due to water shortage), consumer demand (demand was high where populations already used improved water sources (r s = 0.81, p = 0.02)), price sensitivity (demand was lower where SWEs had high prices (r s = ?0.65, p = 0.08)), and production cost (water utility tariffs negatively impacted SWE profits (r s = ?0.52, p < 0.01)). Sustainability was more favorable in circumstances where recovery of capital expenditures was not expected, and the demand for treated water was sufficient to fund operational expenditures. Future research is needed to assess the extent to which kiosk revenue can support ongoing operational costs of WTS and kiosks both at HCF and in other contexts.

Keywords: cost model; demand estimation; water treatment; sub-Saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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