CURRENT STATUS OF PUBLIC WATER ACCESS AND USE IN RURAL AREA OF THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE: THE CASE STUDIES OF DIEN LOC, QUANG NGAN AND QUANG THO COMMUNES

Abstract

Consideration on clean water has always been given to rural areas in Vietnam asa whole and particularly in Thua Thien Hue province. Recently, great efforts of Thua ThienHue Water Supply and Construction Company (HUEWACO) have brought about asubstantially increased number of households gaining access to public water in both urbanand rural areas. To provide a basis for the development of public water supply network inrural area of the province, it is needed to conduct a study on the status of public wateraccess and use in some target communes. Semi-structured interview and questionnairesurvey on such issues in three rural communes namely Dien Loc (Phong Dien district),Quang Ngan and Quang Tho (Quang Dien district) shows that the levels of water access tocentralized public water system and water use vary significantly between three communes.It is also revealed that there still exist complaints regarding the public water service such aswater quality, suspension of supply and low pressure. The proportion of complainingrespondents is the highest in Dien Loc and the lowest in Quang Tho. Approximately 63.2%of survey households in Dien Loc, 70.9% in Quang Ngan and 76.5% in Quang Thobelieved that the current prices are reasonable. More than 90% of them said in the event thehigh quality of public water was secured, they were willing to pay a higher water price.Keywords: water access, water use, rural area, Dien Loc, Quang Ngan, Quang Tho.