Determinants of Community Participation in Sustainable Management of Rural Water Supply System: Evidence from District Lahore, Pakistan

Sustainable functionality of rural water supply systems is one of the most imperative aspects to ensure the provision of safe drinking water for communities. In recent decades, a number of projects have been initiated by national and international organizations to meet the desired need for safe drinking water and sanitation, but a large proportion of these development projects fail shortly after their execution. The majority of water supply projects fail in rural communities within three years after development due to the least level of community participation regarding decision-making, site identification, planning, execution, monitoring, evaluation and management process and, above all, unawareness, lack of basic technical and management skills. This study presents the most influencing determinants of community participation that are compulsory for the sustainable functionality of rural water supply systems. This study was conducted in the district of Lahore, Pakistan and simple random sampling methods and techniques were applied to draw the sample from the population. A semi-structured questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection. The result of the study indicated that a significant association existed among community participation in planning, execution, operation, maintenance & evaluation processes and sustainability functionality of rural water supply systems.