Analysis of operation and maintenance arrangements for water supply in urban areas in Zimbabwe

There are challenges regarding the operation and maintenance (O&M) of water supply infrastructure in developing countries which lead to poor services. This study assessed O&M arrangements and how they are linked to the functionality of key water infrastructure and the status of WSS in eleven urban local authorities in Zimbabwe. The studied parameters included the overall O&M arrangements, functionality of key water infrastructure and status of WSS. Data collection was conducted through a structured questionnaire administered to key personnel of the study councils and supplemented by documentation review. Data analysis was conducted through narrative and quantitative content analysis and statistical tools (cross-tabulation and the coefficient of variation, where applicable). It was established that the overall rating for O&M arrangements, functionality of key water infrastructure, and status of WSS were mostly fair, very poor, and poor, respectively. Based on a Chi-squared test and differences in the overall ratings of main parameters studied, there was no close association between the O&M arrangements studied and functionality of selected key infrastructure (p > 0.05), between the O&M arrangements and status of WSS (p > 0.05), and between the functionality of key infrastructure and status of WSS (p > 0.05). This suggests that other factors including very aged infrastructure, efficiency of execution of the O&M arrangements, national macro-economic environment, and level of funding possibly affected the status of WSS significantly. Further research including other factors mentioned above and covering more local authorities to improve statistical analysis is required.