Linking Technology Choice with Operation and Maintenance book reviewed for decision-making support tools

Updated - Tuesday 27 May 2008

“Linking Technology Choice with Operation and Maintenance in the Context of Community Water Supply and Sanitation” has been selected and peer reviewed by international authors among the18 support resources “that most closely resembled decision-making tools” that help guiding practitioners to the most appropriate water and sanitation solutions. Meena Palaniappan, Micah Lang, and Peter H. Gleick of the USA-based Pacific Institute write this in their Review of Decision-Making Support Tools in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Sector, Spring 2008. PDF

WHO has prepared this water supply and sanitation manual as both a guide and as a decision-making tool written by Brikké, François, and Maarten Bredero; World Health Organization/IRC 2003. Go to PDF

“This document focuses exclusively on community water supply and sanitation in developing countries, in particular, the services that can be managed by communities in rural or low income urban areas. It is designed to help planners and project staff select water-supply and sanitation technologies that can be maintained over the long term in rural and low income urban areas. As has been repeatedly demonstrated worldwide, the selection of a particular technology can have far-reaching consequences for the sustainability of the services. For many years, technical criteria and initial investments were emphasized when choosing such technologies. Although these aspects are important, the roles of financial, institutional, social and environmental factors are also germane for ensuring the sustainability of services. In this manual, it is proposed that an O&M component be added to the selection process.”

WHO has prepared this water supply and sanitation manual as both a guide and as a decision-making tool. The introductory chapters establish a framework and guidelines for implementing community water and sanitation projects. The technology briefs are structured to provide the most useful information for deciding whether or not each technology will appropriately fit a community. Each aspect of construction and O&M is described with suggested roles for various actors, the relative skill level required to complete the tasks, and the costs from actual projects (although these are frequently from sources that are ten or more years old). The section on drinking water disinfection includes a chart that compares the different methods and technologies. While the technologies described in the water supply, storage, and sanitation sections are less comparable, a similar chart, or decision tree for each would make this document a comprehensive, user-friendly decision-making tool.

Score on 20 elements

In their peer review the authors analyzed their selected resources on 20 elements divided over four categories: sector, local topics, other.

Our Linking Technology Choice book matches the following elements in bullets:

Sector