World Bank: Inside the Aggregation of Water Supply and Sanitation Utilities

About The Toolkit

• Today, over 2 billion people live without safe drinking water. Our goal: build a better future by achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 that calls for universal access to a safe, efficient, and reliable water supply for all. Policy makers and practitioners around the world have looked at getting utility companies to work together as one way to help achieving it.

• Building on a review of literature and an analysis of both qualitative and quantitative evidence, a global set of international trends, a utility performance database that covers 1,306 utilities from more than 140 countries, and a series of case studies - this toolkit aims to help understand when, why and how utility companies work together (“aggregate”) successfully.

• Whether you are a World Bank Group staff member, a policymaker, a researcher, a practitioner, a citizen scientist, or just curious - engage with our original toolkit resources to advance your knowledge of how to design a successful aggregation process in the water sector depending on the specific context and purpose sought.

What is aggregation?  | The process by which two or more WSS service providers consolidate some or all of their activities under a shared organizational structure, whether it implies physical infrastructure interconnection or not, and whether the original service providers continue to exist or not.

The aggregation typology  | The design of a successful aggregation should consider both the intended purpose and the context in which it takes place, and characterizes the design of an aggregation as a function of its scope, scale, process, and governance. The infographic below walks through the four design dimensions of WSS utility aggregation: scope, scale, process, and governance.

LINK TO THE TOOLKIT

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Taxonomy

• Rural Water Supply & Sanitation
• Water Supply