Can integration of local water users bring us closer to achieving the SDGs 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3?

While Millennium Development Goals prioritised piped water coverage and access to flashed toilets, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) consider all water sources and equally accepts both cetralized and decentralized water supply systems (SDG 6.1); seperately assess the acces to sanitation services (SDG 6.2) considering the feaces are disposed; and the access to wastewater system (SDG 6.3). This approach has broadened the scope of water and sanitation infrastructure to be considered safe if properly managed.

Full coverage with safely managed drinking water and sanitation is an SDG 6.1., 6.2. and 6.3 target challenge and urbanization is a global challenge for many countries. However, developing countries face the rural population growth as well. Kazakhstan is recently fast population growing middle income country with 20 million people and 43% of them living in 6200 rural settlements. 

Soviet Union tried to tacke rural water supply issues, providing the centralized piped water; this tradition has been continued during after the independency of Kazakhstan. Since 2002 it has invested around 3.2 trillion tenge into provision of water pipes, particularly, in rural areas within five Governmental programs; and none considered rural sanitaiton and wastewater treatment.

This paper investigates the access to drinking water (SDG 6.1), sanitation services (SDG 6.2) and wastewater treatment (SDG 6.3) among rural citizens in one of the donor regions in Kazakhstan –Atyrau region - as well as assessed the responsibility level of local households for water and wastewater systems (WWS). 1360 questionnaires were collected based on online survey conducted in 153 villages in Atyrau region – naturally dry and arid area with poor water resources – during September 2022.

The results show that 2/3 of the rural population use water from centralized water sources which help people enjoy the considerable amount of water for hygiene purposes, and only 11% have access to sewer system representing imbalance in the circular loop: «centralized piped drinking water – sewer system». Moreover, the rural wastwewater from sewer system is not treated and collected in the natural ponds that is accessible for village live stock.

2/3 of people collect wastewater in septic tanks and take the full responsibility for its disposal. 80% of households use pitlaterines which are considered to be one of the sustainable ways dealing with feacal disposal and no mixing feaces with wastewater and letting used drinking water be «grey water» and recycled furtheon. Perceived responsibility level of local households for disposal of feaces, treating wastwewater and maintaining the decentralized water sources is very high.

This servey shows the local water users' high responsibility level for maintaing particuarly decentralized WWS; while neither central government nor municipalities have state functions on community water supply and the funding to support decentralized water and wastwater systems. The managerial tools to integrate the local water users and a system approach are needed to better manage access to decentralized WWS.