Improving water services for unconnected urban households in Sub-Saharan Africa [electronic resource] : preferences and options in Maputo, Mozambique

In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), two in three urban households do not have access to a piped water connection in their premises. These households rely on shared point sources, as well as services provided by small-scale private operators such as cart vendors, tanker trucks, and neighbors connected to the municipal network who resell water. This dissertation contributes to the limited literature on water supply services available to low-income urban populations, by assessing service characteristics and preferences for water service improvements among households without individual connections; comparing across different source options service attributes typically measured in the water sector, including time and money costs, service quality and users' satisfaction; exploring the characteristics of households who resell water and their motivations for doing so. This dissertation focuses on the case of Maputo, Mozambique. Chapter 2 found that felt needs and preferences among peri-urban households in Maputo are more heterogeneous than characterized in the literature, even when households have similar socio-economic and demographic characteristics. Overall, time and money costs of supply drive respondent preferences to a greater extent than any other attributes. Chapter 3 found that households purchasing water from their neighbors pay lower time and money costs per liter of water, on average, and report a higher likelihood of obtaining credit from their supplier, as compared to those using standpipes. No significant difference in the quantity of water obtained from these two water sources was observed, nor were there any significant differences in water quality at source between neighbor's taps and standpipes. Standpipes outperform resale with respect to both the number of hours of service per day and the predictability of supply. Although resale competes favorably with standpipes along a number of service quality dimensions, after controlling for water supply characteristics, households purchasing water from neighbors are significantly less likely to be satisfied with their water services as compared to those using standpipes. Chapter 4 found that most water resellers in Maputo do not behave as entrepreneurs, nor are they motivated by profits when performing their activities. Three non-mutually exclusive explanations of why households engaged in water resale were presented. The first explanation is that households perform their resale activities to obtain cash to buy daily food items, such as bread and vegetables. A second explanation is that resellers engage in resale to "buy" informal social insurance and protect themselves in case of future need, either because they anticipate needing the help of their neighbors or fear social isolation. A third motivation for households to engage in resale is linked to their embeddedness in dense networks of social relations in which helping neighbors is a social norm.

Advisor: Davis J. A. (Jennifer Ann)
Ortolano Leonard primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Miller Norman G. advisor. Thesis advisor