World Bank program brings improved water services to rural Haiti

A US$10mn World Bank program has brought improved water services to the rural South and Nippes departments of Haiti.

"The project has successfully increased access to water services in participating rural communities. The water systems constructed or rehabilitated have benefited 59,367 people in 15 communities," according to a report from the World Bank.

While access to water and sanitation services have improved in urban Haiti in recent years, less than 50% of rural residents have access to improved water sources and only 17% have access to sanitation services.

The limited government funds available for works outside capital Port-au-Prince have traditionally been channeled to improve urban water supply in secondary towns, and the ministry of health's rural water units were ineffective due to a lack of funds.

"Adding to these challenges, a cholera epidemic struck Haiti in October 2010 exposing the important health risks related to low water supply and sanitation coverage in rural areas, as well as the need to speed up investments in building and rehabilitating water and sanitation infrastructure," according to the report.

The World Bank provided a US$5mn grant to the program, which was matched by the State and Peace-Building Fund (SPF).

Key results of the program include establishing new water and sanitation committees to serve the rural population, installing 1,598 household water connections and eight boreholes and building 55 water distribution kiosks and 34 public fountains.

Sanitation works included increasing domestic access to sanitation for 4,964 households, building sanitation infrastructure for schools and training local workers in the construction of latrines.

The World Bank is planning a nationwide scale-up of the program.