Hydraulic ram pumps and Sling Pumps

OP-32-EAverage Management Cost (AMC): is the cost of guaranteeing the availability of the service tousers. It takes into account the total management costs and the total number of users during theyear.AMC ($/user) = Total management costNumber of users• Definition of tariffA water bill is characterised by a fixed charge and charges which vary according to the level ofconsumption.Fixed charge (FC): are the costs that users have to pay that are not related to their waterconsumption. In some way, they guarantee the current availability of the service. SUB is the factorof subsidy or extra-charge per strata.FC = AMC * SUBBasic charge (BC): is the cost of consuming between 0-20 m 3 , with SUB as the factor of subsidyor extra-charge per strata.BC = LTAC * SUBComplementary charge (CC) and luxury charge (LC): the former is the price of consumingbetween 20 – 40 m 3 , with SUB as the factor of subsidy or extra-charge per strata. The last is theprice for consumption up to 40 m 3 , with SUB as the factor of extra-charge per strata.• Setting the billThe calculation of the monthly bill is be done using the following formula:T = FC + BC (monthly consumption) + CC (monthly consumption) + LC (monthly consumption))2.2 Optimising costsThe optimum situation is a state of equilibrium in which users and community organisations share acommon understanding about costs and their capacity to cover them. To arrive at this situation theymust identify costs, make a decision on which should be recovered, estimate them, analyse them, andfinally find ways to minimise them.As Evans (1992) points out, “too often the real cost of water and sanitation improvements areunknown or inadequately recorded”. There are many reasons for this. First, agencies are, in the main,accustomed to financing investment costs, so they have little reliable cost data about operation andmaintenance. Second, there is a lack of adequate mechanisms for data collection and data is notcompiled in standardised format (Katko, 1989, citing a Bates and Wyatt, 1987). Third, costs differwidely between countries, and even within them, because they are influenced by a broad set of factors,such as the choice of technology, levels of service, the project strategy and by management andadministrative procedures.2.2.1 Identifying operation and maintenance costsAlthough there are multiple ways to classify costs, it is accepted that WSS services produce threetypes of costs: investment costs, recurrent costs and future investment costs. It is also possible todistinguish between fixed costs, which are independent from the level of consumption, and variablecosts, which change according to consumption.32