SEI 2. Jobs Created: This criterion accounts for the number of direct jobs created by the project during the construction and operational phases. The number of jobs created during the operational phase was available in the pre‐feasibility studies of the projects. The number of jobs created during the construction phase was calculated based on the cost estimate for pipe laying works and civil/structural work and the unit cost of labor. First, the cost of labor was assumed as 20% of the pipe laying cost and as 40% of the civil/structural work cost. Then, the typical size of labor crews used in pipe supply and laying and civil/structural work was identified based on available data in NWSDB, and the rates charged per crew were estimated based on the daily wage rates for skilled and unskilled labor using the NWSDB Rate Book for the respective year. The detailed calculations are provided in Annexure‐II.

SEI 3. Poverty Level: This criterion refers to the poverty level in the area where the project is to be located. It is calculated as the percentage of people living below the poverty line measured thorough the poverty head count index data available at a District Secretarial Divisions (DSD) published by the Department of Census and Statistics.<sup>8</sup> If a Project covers more than one DSD, then the poverty level input criteria for that particular project is calculated as a weighted average of the poverty levels in each of the DSDs based on their existing populations.

SEI 4. Bacterial Quality of Water: This criterion attempts to factor in the quality of water using a consistent parameter across all projects. Because almost all projects in the analysis include water treatment, these projects aim to improve the quality levels of supplied water. Bacterial quality is measured by the number of failed water quality tests during the last 36 months in the areas where the projects will be implemented.<sup>9</sup> In order to prioritize projects in areas where quality is in most need of improvement, projects where test failure levels are higher are prioritized for improvement works. Such data was collected from either the pre‐ Feasibility Reports or Bacteriological WQ Test results for the relevant years from NWSDB.

SEI 5. Prevalence of Water Borne Diseases: This criterion measures the average annual number of diarrhea/ dysentery, hepatitis, and typhoid cases in the last five years per 100,000 of the population to be served by the projects. This data was aggregated from various sources, including pre‐feasibility reports, health offices (RDHS, MOH, PHI, Regional Epidemiologist etc.), and the Department of Health. Again, since a key aim of all projects included in the analysis is to provide safe piped water supply, areas with higher prevalence of waterborne disease receive higher priority for intervention works.

SEI 6. Continuity of Supply: This criterion is based on the hours of water supply per day in the areas where the project will be located. The lower the hours of supply, the higher the priority for implementing projects serving those areas. These data are obtained from either the pre‐

> 8 The districts of Sri Lanka are divided into administrative sub‐units known as _divisional secretariats_ . The Divisions are administered by a 'Divisional Secretary' and are known as 'D.S. Divisions'. There are 331 of them.

> 9 The data are collected as part of the standardized process specified by the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI). SLSI stipulates the number of tests to be conducted every month based on the number of consumers.

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