| Title: | Multiple Use Services: Meeting the Productive and Domestic Water Needs of the Rural Poor |
| Citable URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/10427/52862 |
| Author: | Bingham, Rachel |
| Date: | 2007 |
| Citation: | Bingham, Rachel. "Multiple Use Services: Meeting the Productive and Domestic Water Needs of the Rural Poor." 2007. Tufts University. Digital Collections and Archives. Medford, MA. http://hdl.handle.net/10427/52862 Available from Tufts Digital Library, Digital Collections and Archives, Medford, MA. http://hdl.handle.net/10427/52862 |
| Rights: | http://dca.tufts.edu/ua/access/rights-creator.html |
View the PDF File: Multiple Use Services: Meeting the Productive and Domestic Water Needs of the Rural Poor (opens in a new window)
Abstract: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Abstract: This report uses a detailed 55 household survey in the village of Thid (pop. 1800) in the southern part of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania to answer the following three questions: Does the net impact of productive water strengthen rural livelihoods and reduce poverty of rural households? If so, to what extent do productive uses of water form an important contribution to these livelihoods? Does it provide opportunities for asset accumulation? Although the realization that the poor and water scarce distribute their water consumption across multiple activities is not a new, attempting to account for these various uses is. The debate regarding the benefits and costs to livelihoods from productive water is currently raging. Estimating these incremental benefits and costs will help governments and non-governmental organizations value water systems appropriately, and can also inform the design of community water systems. Above all, if the balance of costs and benefits at the household level is known it will determine if multiple-use water services (MUS) are truly a superior approach to water resources development. This household level analysis provides an explicit example of how the availability of productive water strengthens rural livelihoods and provides opportunities for asset accumulation in the form of livestock, trees, and revenue from livestock products.