ABSTRACT
In policy-oriented literature, financial sustainability and the extension of coverage are frequently presented as mutually dependent. The question of how water operators try to balance financial and social objectives was a larger theme of work covered by the Water Services Management Group – Water Governance at IHE Delft. Most development projects in the water services sector aimed at improving water coverage matter-of-factly combine the extension of services with financial sustainability. The water provider´s “inability to set cost recovering tariffs, often under the guise of achieving social objectives, constrains water utilities’ capacity to expand services to low-income areas”. In other words, simultaneously being the main vehicle for expanding water services and operating as a financially autonomous entity may be difficult goals to reconcile. Given the expected decrease in donor assistance for the water services sector in developing countries, the utilities should give more importance to commercial and blended finance.
