Assessing the performance of a PPP

The performance of a PPP (and indeed a public water utility) can be assessed through the following parameters (Athena Infonomics, 2012):

• Accessibility: What proportion of the population have access to water? Is the distance to the water point less than 1 km or 30 minutes’ walking time? Pickering and Davis (2012), using survey data from 26 sub-Saharan countries, found that the further away a water source was, the less water was used; when the distance was more than 30 minutes away, households collected less water than was necessary for basic needs.
• Affordability: Is the cost of the water needed less than 5% of the household’s income?
• Cost recovery: Is the cost of providing the water being recouped?
• Minimisation of non-revenue water: Is this reduced to no more than most 15%?
• Water quality: Is there adherence to national standards?
• Operational efficiency: What is the quantity of water supplied per capita? What is the duration of water supply in hours per day?

These parameters can be used to evaluate whether a PPP is beneficial, with data from before the partnership’s creation being compared with data after the PPP has been running for, say, a year.