Cost recovery for water supply, policy and practice in Bangladesh

The National Policy for Safe Drinking Water supply and Sanitation of Bangladesh states that “in the near future”, larger parts of the construction costs of water supply systems should be recovered from the users. Furthermore, the policy prescribes that user communities should become responsible for O&M of the water supply facilities in rural areas and should bear 100% of the costs for this. The policy states that transaction should be more towards cost recovery and financing practices for water supply should be gradual and there should be a safety net for the hard-core poor. This paper deals with the cost recovery and financing of water supply according to the National and how it is interpreted and put into practice by different organizations.