CWM+ Pacific Islands

Very pleased to see that the CW+ research work is now being built upon through the International WaterCentre’s ‘Pacific Community Water Management Plus (PaCWaM+) research project. Their web page under development, is: https://watercentre.org/research/research-impacts/pcwm/

I reflected back to them that we are all aware of the Cummings et al research summary on rural WASH.

I believe that CW+, ‘transformative WASH’ must be the demand effective way forward to sustainability – but if only there is a route to unlocking sufficient ‘affordable finance’ for what ends up being a capital-intensive solution. In India rural WASH has been able to ride the strong economic growth curve - which may now be cresting, so more challenging times to come, particularly with regard to capital maintenance.

The understandable response was that ‘we are working in a very low and dispersed resource environment, so the ++ is a huge challenge and we are needing to think creatively.’ The never-ending challenge of our sector: without effective demand for what becomes a very high cost (relative to user incomes) service we cannot deliver a sustainable service … but without giving that level of service there is a) such limited health benefits and b) even less demand for ongoing serviceability ….