Public perceptions of the performance of community-based drinking water organizations in Costa Rica
Introduction
Water policies in many countries do not promote the creation of appropriate institutions for managing and enhancing water supply [39]. In most rural areas of the developing world, access to drinking water from a safe or improved source and to sanitation services remains excessively low [49]. Costa Rica has one of the highest coverage ratios (number of houses connected to water pipelines) for drinking water in rural areas in Latin America [50]. However, only 60% of this water meets the national standards for potable water [26].
Community-based drinking water organizations (CBDWO) can be considered as a pillar of decentralized governance structures for water management in rural areas. CBDWO are widespread in Costa Rica, in contrast to prevalent government water utilities in urban areas. The few studies that analyze the sustainability of CBDWO in rural Costa Rica [7], [23] indicate a high variability in their performance due to differences in governance structure, water infrastructure and the socio-economic attributes of local actors. These structural problems expose many consumers to water shortages and particularly, to poor water quality.
Given that the characteristics of tap water (aesthetics or bacterial and chemical content) result from actions taken (or not taken) by local providers and the water infrastructure available, our primary objective is to identify the physical and institutional factors that affect the capacity of local providers to satisfy the needs of consumers for safe drinking water. In particular, we explore the extent to which the performance of CBDWO depends on differences in downward accountability mechanisms, financial aspects and human capital of the local water committee, among other important factors. Our goal is to contribute to the ongoing policy debate on which governance structures are more appropriate for managing shared resources at the local level.
From a theoretical point of view, the problems of providing safe drinking water in rural areas can be analyzed using the vast literature related to collective action in common-pool resources [2], [30]. Hence, we endeavor to contribute also to building a more robust theory on the institutional determinants of the sustainability of common-pool resources. This literature is mostly built around single case studies [2], [33]; which limits the development of a more solid and general theory1. Efforts to compare these case studies to obtain more general conclusions have been hindered by sample selection problems in the construction of comparative databases, disciplinary differences, missing variables, and differences in conceptualization and empirical measurement of variables [2], [32]. We attempt to bridge this gap by systematically comparing 41 CBDWO that differ in their achievement of performance goals and, presumably, in the way they solve their collective action problems.
Section snippets
Context information
The Costa Rican Institute of Water and Sanitation (ICAA, by its Spanish acronym) was established in 1961 to oversee the provision and quality of drinking water, including local suppliers; and to be responsible for the design, construction, and management of the infrastructure that provides drinking water to urban and rural communities [7]. From the 1960s to the 1990s, the government invested large sums in construction and administration of new infrastructure, and in subsidies to CBDWO to build
Theoretical and empirical background
The performance of CBDWO does not depend exclusively on the condition of water infrastructure. The characteristics of watersheds, and human decisions on land use [6] also influence the water needed to flow through this infrastructure. Furthermore, the ability of communities to solve collective action problems also affects the performance of drinking water systems. The same intrinsic motivational problem present in public goods and common pool resources is also present in drinking water systems
Sample selection and characteristics
Costa Rica has a very diverse set of ecosystems and climatic conditions. The central region is quite similar in these conditions and differs significantly from the rest of the country in terms of precipitation, temperature and geographic characteristics. We selected a random sample of CBDWO from a list of all organizations in the central region of Costa Rica to examine the effects of socioeconomic and governance attributes of CBDWO on performance. The central region accounts for 36% of the
Results and discussion
Most consumers seem to be satisfied or very satisfied with the quantity and quality of water in their homes, although the approval rate is lower for water quality (Table 3). This finding is consistent with the observation that the most important problem reported by water users in their respective communities is water quality. Less important issues include high water fees, interrupted service, and lack of information from water committees.
The communities in our sample are located in a humid
Conclusion
Our analysis describes how characteristics of the infrastructure and the organization (governance and water committee) influence perceptions of performance when measured by the level of user satisfaction. We show that downward accountability mechanisms (including the “Water Quality Seal” program and reports to the community) exert pressure on water committee members to act in the best interest of consumers. It also helps enforce rules that increase the likelihood that the committee will
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