Water supply projects in developing countries are traditionally based on either (a) piped systems, with public taps or private household services (or both), or (b) wells with handpumps. Both of these approaches to providing water services have been extensively studied; planning and design manuals for such systems abound. There is, however, a third approach to service delivery which is seldom explicitly recognized or incorporated in design or investment decisions: water vending. Millions of people in villages and cities throughout the developing world are, in fact, already being served by vendors who take water from a source that is available and then deliver it in containers to households or fill household containers from their vehicle tanks.

WATER VENDING

The distribution of water by vendors is expensive, whether the vehicles are powered by people, animals or engines. Households which are served by vendors generally pay more per month for 20–40 litres per capita per day than those directly connected to a piped system who might use as much as 400 litres per capita per day. Households sometimes pay over 10 per cent of their monthly income for vended water, as compared to 1–5 per cent for most piped water systems (Whittington, Lauria and Mu, 1989; Zaroff and Okun, 1984). In addition, vendors sometimes sell water from polluted sources or fouled containers. Water vending can thus be a financial burden and a health threat to millions of people.