Off-Grid Water Supply

This book highlights unique and deeper insights into the operations of off-grid water supply business models and the policy implications that they raise. The two key research questions of the report are as 1) What is the efficacy and sustainability of the off-grid model of safe water availability and/or delivery to consumers who don’t have piped water supply? 2) What are the key policy considerations for planning a successful off-grid model of safe water delivery? Through the Four-Domain Framework, this book does the gap analysis of the physical, operational, financial, and institutional domains of the few off-grid water operators in cross-country case studies. It also includes a detailed financial analysis of the capital costs as well as operations and maintenance costs of the different off-grid water supply models compared to some of the piped water supply models. The final discusses the need to acknowledge off-grid water solutions in urban water policies, especially for the economically weaker sections. The universal coverage of all by the piped water is an ultimate goal of any water policy; however, in the interim, there is a need to put more emphasis on off-grid water solutions.