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The costs of water, sanitation and hygiene services include expenditure on construction of water and sanitation systems, operation and maintenance and eventual rehabilitation of infrastructure. It also includes training and support to service providers, cost of capital, and expenditures for monitoring, planning and policy making. They are often referred to as life-cycle costs; the costs of delivering water, sanitation and hygiene services indefinitely to a specific population in a particular geographic area, forever.

<div id="Life-cycle costs">'''Life-cycle costs'''</div> Life-cycle costs are divided into six categories (see figure 1 below). These six categories are related to ''onetime expenditures'' on providing or upgrading a service, also known as [[Capital Expenditure (CapEx)| '''capital expenditure''']] (in green in figure 1) and ''recurrent expenditures'' (in blue in figure 1) on maintaining a service at its intended level.

<center>'''Figure 1. Life-cycle cost components'''{{#ev:youtube|Gkzf0zBgPHM|200|right|<font size="2"><center>IRC WASHCost <br> ANIMATION</center><font>}}<span title="Click image to zoom">[[Image:Costs intro fg 1.jpg|thumb|centernone|600px500px|<center>Source: Fonseca, C. et al., 2010b]]</centerspan>]]

[[Expenditure Direct Support (ExpDS)|Expenditure on direct support (ExpDS)]] includes expenditure on post-construction activities directed at local stakeholders, users or user groups. It is the costs cost of ensuring local government staff have the capacity and resources to repair broken systems and monitor service delivery.

===Examples=======World Bank-RWSN [https://worldbankva.adobeconnect.com/_a833642795/p5zjz7cg7mp/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal Webinar] life-cycle costing====In this webinar on life-cycle costing, Catarina Fonseca, IRC senior Programme Officer and the [http://www.washcost.info/ [#WASHCost|WASHCost]] project director, explains the life-cycle cost components. This webinar was part of the World Bank-RWSN Webinar 7, May 15 2012.

===Cost benchmarks===Based on research from the [http://campaign.washcost.info/life_cycle_cost_approach_promotion/key_findings_on_costing_water_services [#WASHCost |WASHCost]] project], the one-time capital expenditure for preparing and installing a borehole and handpump (at 2011 prices) range from US$ 20 per person to just over US$ 60 per person (see table 1). For small piped schemes, including mechanised boreholes, benchmark costs range from US$ 30 to just over US$ 130 per person. For intermediate and larger schemes benchmark capital costs vary widely from US$ 20 to US$ 152 per person. Recurrent costs benchmarks range from US$ 3 to US$ 6 per person per year for boreholes and handpumps, and from US$ 3 to US$ 15 per person per year for piped schemes.

'''Table 1. Capital and recurrent expenditure benchmarks for a basic level of water services'''

The costs as shown in table 1 (above) are based on the provision of a basic level of water service, as defined by [http://www.washcost.info/ [#WASHCost|WASHCost]]. A basic service implies that the following criteria have been realised by the majority of the population in the service area: People access a minimum of 20 litres per person per day, of acceptable quality (judged by user perception and country standards) from an improved source which functions at least 350 days a year without a serious breakdown, spending no more than 30 minutes per day per round trip (including waiting time). Based on research from the [[#WASHCost|WASHCost]] project, the cost of preparing and building a traditional pit latrine that can provide a basic level of service ranges from US$ 7-26 (at 2011 prices) (see table 2). The cost of a pit latrine with a concrete slab, or of a VIP latrine ranges from US$ 36 to more than US$ 350. The benchmark costs of pour-flush or septic tank latrines range between US$ 90-360 (rounded).

Based on research from the [http://campaign.washcost.info/life_cycle_cost_approach_promotion/key_findings_on_costing_water_services WASHCost project], the cost of preparing and building a traditional pit latrine that can provide a basic level of service ranges from US$ 7-26 (at 2011 prices) (see table 2).The cost of a pit latrine with a concrete slab, or of a VIP latrine ranges from US$ 36 to more than US$ 350. The benchmark costs of pour-flush or septic-tank latrines range between US$ 90-360 (rounded). Recurrent expenditure range from US$ 1.5 for low-cost pit latrines per person per year to US$ 11.5 per person per year for the most expensive pour-flush or septic-tank latrines.

'''Table 2. Capital and recurrent expenditure benchmarks for a basic level of sanitation services'''

The costs as shown in table 2 (above) are based on the provision of a basic level of sanitation service, as defined by [http://www.washcost.info/ [#WASHCost|WASHCost]]. A basic service implies that all the following criteria have been realised by the majority of the population in the service area: At least some members of the household use a latrine with an impermeable slab at the house, in the compound or shared with neighbours. The latrine is clean even if it may require high user effort for pit emptying and other long term maintenance. The disposal of sludge is safe and the use of the latrine does not result in problematic environmental impact.

'''For both water and sanitation cost benchmarks (IRC, 2012): ''' <br>

===Example of life cycle costs from Uganda=== The Fontes Foundation studied the different costs over a period of seven years of three of their rural water projects in Uganda (Koestler, Koestler and Koestler, 2010). The 3 three projects are situated in Katunguru Sub-County, part of Queen Elizabeth National Park in Rubirizi District in Western Uganda and the three communities Katunguru, Kazinga and Kisenyi have 730, 860 and 1040 inhabitants respectively. All three projects are managed through the community management model and are all small piped water schemes, with between 1 km and 2 km of pipes and one or two public taps. Since the ground water in the Rift Valley is salty, it is necessary to treat surface water.

Figure 2 below shows the total cash flow and the type of expenditure for one of the three projects; Katunguru. It shows that after the initial investment in 2004 (e.g. [[Capital Expenditure (CapEx)|capital expenditure]]) a significant injection was necessary in 2009to replace a broken generator. Unexpected increases in capital maintenance are usually accompanied by an increase in expenditure on direct support. Otherwise, the cash flow lies between 8,000 and 14,500 USD per year (Koestler, Koestler and Koestler, 2010).

<center>'''Figure 2. Costs by categories for Katunguru water project in Uganda 2004-2010 in 2010 USD'''</center>[[Image:Costs fg 2.jpg|thumb|centernone|600px500px|<center>Source: Koestler et.al, 2010</center>]]

When the total cash flow is broken down into the [[#Life-cycle costs|life-cycle cost categories]], only a small amount of the ''total cash flow need'' is needed per year, to keep the projects running, was covered by the community in form of operation and maintenance costs (e.g. 24%) as shown in figure 3, below (Koestler, Koestler and Koestler, 2010).

<center>'''Figure 3. Total cash flow by source of income for Katunguru in 2010 USD'''</center>[[Image:Costs fg 3.jpg|thumb|centernone|600px500px|<center>Source: Koestler, Koestler and Koestler, 2010</center>]]

===Key documents===* Fonseca, C. et al., 2010a. [httpshttp://siteswww.googleircwash.comorg/aresources/irc.nl/ircbriefing-note-glossary/glossary1a-terms/life-cycle-costs-approach-lcca costing-sustainable-service Life-cycle costs approach : glossary and cost components]. (WASHCost briefing note; no. 1). The Hague, The Netherlands: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. * Fonseca, C. et al., 2010b. [http://www.washcostircwash.infoorg/docsearchresources/title/176684 multi-dimensional-framework-costing-sustainable-water-and-sanitation-services-low-income A multi dimensional framework for costing sustainable water and sanitation services in low-income settings]: lessons from collecting actual life cycle costs for rural and peri-urban areas of Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Andhra Pradesh. (WASHCost research report; V1.0). The Hague, The Netherlands: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. * IRC, 2012. [http://www.washcostircwash.infoorg/pageresources/2386 providing-basic-level-water-and-sanitation-services-last-cost-benchmarks Providing a basic level of water and sanitation services that last: cost benchmarks]. (WASHCost infosheet; 1.] ) The Hague, The Netherlands: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre

:Information sheet provides an overview of the minimum benchmarks for costing sustainable basic services in developing countries. The benchmarks have been derived from the WASHCost project dataset and the best available cost data from other organisations all over the world. The benchmarks are useful for planning, assessing sustainability from a cost perspective and for monitoring value for money.

* Koestler, L., Koestler, A.G. and Koestler, M.A., 2010. [http://www.irc.nl/media/irc_symposium_2010_pdf_s/6_koestler_koestler_et_al_the_cost_of_keeping_a_rural_water_system_running The cost of keeping a rural water system running]: cost tracking of three rural water supplies in Uganda : paper presented at the IRC symposium ‘ Pumps, Pipes and Promises: Costs, Finances and Accountability for Sustainable WASH Services' in The Hague, The Netherlands from 16 - 18 November 2010. The Hague, The Netherlands: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. * Pezon, C., 2010. [http://www.washcostircwash.infoorg/pageresources/842 decentralisation-and-use-cost-information-delivering-wash-services Decentralisation and the use of cost data in WASHCost project countries: synthesis of country reports 2009]. (WASHCost briefing note; no. 2). [online] The Hague, The Netherlands: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre.

===Links===<div id="WASHCost">'''WASHCost'''</div>* WASHCost was a five-year action research programme, running from 2008 to 2012. The WASHCost team gathered information related to the costs of providing water, sanitation, and hygiene services for an entire life-cycle of a service - from implementation all the way to post-construction. The WASHCost programme was led by IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre with several partners to collect data in the rural and peri-urban areas of Burkina Faso, Ghana, India, and Mozambique. For more information see [http://www.washcostircwash.info| org/washcostWASHCost].info]* The Costing Sustainable Services online course was developed to assist governments, NGOs, donors and individuals to plan and budget for sustainable and equitable WASH services, using a life-cycle cost approach. The Life-cycle cost approach is a methodology for costing sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene service delivery and comparing the costs to the level of service received by users. For more information see : [http://www.washcostircwash.org/node/22800 WASHCost Online Training].* WASHCost data sets provide access to the validated life cycle cost and service level information collected in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Andhra Pradesh (India), and Mozambique between 2009 and 2010. The data has been collated from a number of sources, including infrastructure surveys, detailed household surveys and a range of specific research undertaken with stakeholders in each country.infoThe data sets are available [http:/page/2448| washcostwww.ircwash.infoorg/pagenews/2448datasets-now-available-wash-expenditure-and-service-levels-four-countries-2009-2010 here].* Triple-S (Sustainable Services at Scale) is a six-year, multi-country learning initiative to improve water supply to the rural poor. It is led by IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. The initiative is currently operating in Ghana and Uganda. Lessons learned from work in countries feeds up to the international level where Triple-S is promoting a re-appraisal of how development assistance to the rural water supply sector is designed and implemented. For more information see : [http://www.waterservicesthatlast.org/| waterservicesthatlastWater Services That Last].org]