The Center for Global Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
The Access Project Rwanda, Kigali, Nyarugenge District, Rwanda.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017 Dec 16;14(12):1584. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14121584.
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) 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 = 0.81, = 0.02)), price sensitivity (demand was lower where SWEs had high prices (r = -0.65, = 0.08)), and production cost (water utility tariffs negatively impacted SWE profits (r = -0.52, < 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.
小型供水企业 (SWE) 的资本支出低于集中式系统，可为农村市场提供分散式解决方案。本研究评估了卢旺达农村的 SWE，其中 9 个医疗保健设施 (HCF) 拥有和运营水亭，从现场水处理系统 (WTS) 供水。对 SWE 进行了 12 个月的监测。使用 Spearman 秩相关系数 (r) 评估了水亭需求与社区特征之间的相关性，以及水亭利润与影响成本模型的因素之间的相关性。平均而言，SWE 每月分发 15300 升水。一个 SWE 亏损，四个利润率≤10%，四个利润率为 45-75%。影响 SWE 绩效的因素包括间歇性供水（87%的 SWE 关闭是由于缺水）、消费者需求（在已经使用改良水源的人群中需求较高 (r = 0.81, = 0.02)）、价格敏感度（水亭价格较高时需求较低 (r = -0.65, = 0.08)）和生产成本（水公用事业关税对 SWE 利润产生负面影响 (r = -0.52, < 0.01)）。在不期望收回资本支出的情况下，以及对处理后水的需求足以支付运营支出的情况下，可持续性更为有利。需要进一步研究来评估水亭收入在多大程度上可以支持 WTS 和水亭的运营成本，包括在 HCF 和其他情况下。
