Small private vendors bring water to urban poor people across the globe as piped systems meet the needs of only a small minority of urban residents. Officials often see water vending as a symptom of failure to deliver piped water. Instead of supporting vendors, they may try to ban them.

A paper from the International Institute for Environment and Development looks at how water-vending systems operate. It suggests ways to enable non-utility water vendors to more efficiently meet the needs of poor neighbourhoods.

Water vendors may sell water from a shallow well, a borehole, a commercial water connection or a household connection to the piped network. Consumers may carry the water to their homes themselves. Distributing vendors typically carry water in containers loaded on bicycles or hand- pushed or animal-drawn carts. On a larger scale, and often serving higher-income customers, tanker trucks carry greater quantities to premises with larger storage capacities.

Private water selling is not sufficiently studied and is widely misunderstood. By assuming that vended water is inadequate, opportunities for improvement are being lost. Recent studies of willingness to pay for water highlight the folly of assuming that the poor believe that water is a free good, which should not be bought and sold.

The authors show that:

• Many vendors are victims of corrupt, discriminatory or arbitrary practices.
• Regulating the price charged by vendors is not an effective way to bring down prices.
• Imposing high taxes, expensive business licences and unrealistic standards prevents authorities from working in tandem with vendors.
• Current water tariffs often result in middle-income households with water connections paying less for water than vendors who supply low-income households.
• Most vendors operate with minimal profit margins and considerable competition.
• High vendor prices are usually the symptom, not the cause, of insufficient water provision.

Official indicators of progress towards the water target of the Millennium Development Goals measure whether people switch away from vendors and other ‘unimproved’ sources. It is time to recognise that providing better vended water services to the urban poor can help achieve international water goals. Vendors and re-sellers can be an integral part of urban water systems.

Planners need to support the long-term benefits of utility-provided piped water, which may eventually drive vendors out of business, and at the same time harness the flexibility and low initial costs of vending systems. This means supporting vendor systems alongside piped water provision, at least in the short run.

Urban authorities need to:

• reduce tariffs for vendors who draw water from piped networks to sell to poor people
• reduce the uncertainty preventing vendors from investing in efficient and safe delivery systems: it is important they be informed of utilities’ expansion plans
• provide paved lanes and enforce traffic regulations to help vendors get water to customers
• encourage vendors to establish associations, to train and license members and to develop accountable standards of conduct and service
• build trust by consulting stakeholders: the interests of customers, vendors and utilities are best resolved through open dialogue and official recognition of roles and responsibilities.

Source(s):
‘Informal water vendors and the urban poor’, International Institute for Environment and Development, by Marianne Kjellén and Gordon McGranahan, March 2006 Full document.

Funded by: Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DANIDA)

id21 Research Highlight: 9 February 2007

Further Information:
Gordon McGranahan
Human Settlements Group
International Institute for Environment and Development
3 Endsleigh Street
London WC1H ODD
UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7388 2117
Fax: +44 (0)20 7388 2826
Contact the contributor: gordon.mcgranahan@iied.org

IIED Human Settlements Group, UK

Marianne Kjellén
Department of Human Geography
University of Stockholm
SE-106 91 Stockholm
Sweden

Tel: +46 8 16 20 00
Fax: +46 8 16 49 69
Contact the contributor: marianne.kjellen@humangeo.su.se

University of Stockholm, Sweden

Other related links:
'Linking sanitation, water and livelihoods in Nairobi slums'

'Water kiosk operators achieve credibility in Nairobi slum'

'Marketing water and sanitation to poor people'

'Securing the future for water services'