Access to safely managed water is a basic human right, yet rural water supply still remains a challenge in Zimbabwe. This study sought to assess sustainability of community managed piped water schemes developed under the rural WASH program as a model for rural water supply. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in the collection of data. The program developed 33 schemes out of which 36.4% have since broken down. System failure is high amongst diesel and electricity powered schemes compared to solar powered. Alarmingly, all the schemes have water point committees set up and trained with support from the project. The current status-quo therefore reflects a capacity gap amongst the set water point committees. In many cases they have failed to operationalize the water fund, institute water demand management, support and retain pump operatives. Moving forward, the sector therefore needs to adopt a demand responsive approach when targeting schemes for rehabilitation. This will help address structural issues in the management of the schemes like social capital, ownership of the investment and cost recovery. Government should also consider going to scale with the solar powered schemes which are seemingly resilient and compatible with the community based management system.

获得安全管理的水是一项基本人权，但是农村供水仍然是津巴布韦的一个挑战。这项研究试图评估在农村WASH计划下开发的社区管理自来水计划的可持续性，作为农村供水的模型。定性和定量研究方法均用于数据收集。该计划制定了33个计划，其中36.4％已分解。与太阳能驱动的系统相比，柴油和电动驱动的系统故障率更高。令人震惊的是，所有计划都设立了水位委员会，并在项目的支持下接受了培训。因此，当前现状反映了设定的水位委员会之间的能力差距。在许多情况下，他们未能启动水基金，没有建立需水管理，支持和保留泵操作员。因此，在面向康复计划时，该行业因此需要采取一种需求响应的方法。这将有助于解决计划管理中的结构性问题，例如社会资本，投资所有权和成本回收。政府还应该考虑扩大太阳能计划的规模，这些计划似乎具有弹性并且与基于社区的管理系统兼容。