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In order to promote good water governance practices, harmonize multiple objectives, and reflect the linkages between environmental, socioeconomic and politico-administrative aspects, it is imperative to define appropriate regions for water resources planning and management. The Water Resources Planning and Management Decision Support System (WARPLAM DSS) is presented here as a tool to support the definition of suitable limits for water resources regions. Although river basins are generally considered the most suitable regions to achieve Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) goals, WARPLAM DSS facilitates the analysis of politico-administrative, historic-cultural, socioeconomic, and physical-environmental aspects. This paper summarizes an initiative to define integrated water resources regions for the establishment of River Basin Committees (RBCs) in Peru, based on a comprehensive analysis of the Peruvian territory. The study was developed through a partnership between ANA-Peru and ANA-Brazil, with the cooperation of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The results simulated in this attempt anticipate a more harmonized division of Peru's territory into water resources regions. Such an approach aims to establish more robust RBCs and to increase the chances of attaining IWRM goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the main findings of a multi-country research project designed to develop a better understanding of the performance of community-managed rural water supply systems in developing countries. Data were collected from households, village water committees, focus groups of village residents, system operators and key informants in 400 rural communities in Peru. Bolivia and Ghana. Our findings suggest that the demand-driven, community management model, coupled with access to spare parts and some technical expertise, has come a long way toward unraveling the puzzle of how best to design and implement rural water supply programs in developing countries. In all three countries, rural water supply projects were working. Among the households included in our sample in Peru and Bolivia, 95% had operational taps at the time of our field visit. In 90% of the villages in Ghana, all project handpumps were still working. Not only had the rural water systems not broken down, but almost all the households in these communities were obtaining at least some of their water from the systems. However, some households were also still using water from other sources. In Ghana, 38% of households still reported using water from unprotected sources (e.g. springs, fiver, open wells) for drinking and/or cooking. Another troublesome finding is that rural households in the sample villages are paying very little for the improved water services and, as a result, the finances of many village water committees are in poor shape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]