The soft path to water: A conservation-based approach to improved water access and sanitation for rural communities

THE CHALLENGE OF WATER ACCESS IN SMALL ISOLATED RURAL COMMUNITIES

The traditional approach to providing water in an urban or suburban context is a hard-engineered centralized system of water treatment and distribution from the point of treatment. For sanitation, the conventional system includes collection and delivery of waste to a centralized treatment system before discharge to a water body. Hard-engineered systems place most of their emphasis on managing/increasing water supply with much less attention to managing water demand.

There are many small rural communities, particularly in the southwestern United States, but also in other regions of the United States, that are remote, isolated, and with relatively small populations who lack access to adequate water and sanitation. For these communities, hard-engineered systems are neither a reality today nor are likely to be in the near term. Many of these communities resemble rural areas in developing countries and share several of the following characteristics (Cardenas et al. 2010; Del Rio et al. 2017; Ford and Dzewaltowski 2008; Hargrove et al. 2015, 2018; Jepson 2014; Korc and Ford 2013; Lusk et al. 2012; Sullivan and Ward 2012; Van Derslice 2011; and Wutich et al. 2014):

• They are relatively resource poor, commonly with household incomes of less than US$25,000 y⁻¹, and many less than US$12,000 y⁻¹.

• In addition to lacking infrastructure for water and sanitation, they also lack other basic infrastructure and services such as paved roads, dependable electricity, solid waste management, fire safety, safe …