Download Water User Associations

February 2004
Tajikistan
Structure and responsibilities of the Water User Associations
created by ACTION AGAINST HUNGER for the sustainability of the drinking water network
Where the proposed project involves infrastructure that will be handed over to the community for future maintenance
and operation, it is essential to form a Water User Association. In Tajikistan, a WUA is a legal entity that is registered
with the State Juridical department (at a cost of 175 TSM: 150 TSM for the registration, beard by the community itself,
and 25 TSM for the stamp, paid by Action Against Hunger). This is required so that the assets and the management of
the pumping station can be signed over (from the “Vodokanal”, organization usually in charge of the rural water supply)
to the association and therefore legally owned.
As done during the previous project funded by the European Commission, Water User Associations will be created on
the basis of for legal documents:
 UN International law of civil and political rights from 16th of December 1966, signed by Republic of Tajikistan
and 135 more countries (“every citizen has the right to form an association”).
 Regulation of the Government of Tajikistan on the Introduction of Water Use Fees (June 1996).
 Civil code of the Republic of Tajikistan, implemented since January 2000 (Article 28, 29, 130, 131, about the
right to create a Non Profitable Organization, as well as Article 1 to 30 concerning the functioning of the Non
Profitable Organizations).
 Water Code approved by the High Chamber of Parliament in November 2000.
The activities of the WUA will be regulated by the Charter of the Association. Its main responsibilities will be as
followed:
 Be the link between Action Against Hunger and the community during the project implementation
 Collections of monthly water fee from each household (in average, between 0.5 and 1 tsm per household per
month), to pay the operation and maintenance costs of the pump station and network.
 Operation of the pump station: daily operation of the pump when needed or when the electricity is available,
chlorination of the water, payment of the monthly electrical fee, payment of the salary of the operator,
purchase of chlorine
 Maintenance of the pump station and the network: purchase of various spare parts, material and tools
necessary for the maintenance
 Keeping record of all the accountancy: money collected monthly, detail of the expenses done, and reserve
money available
 Make a report to the Action Against Hunger’s monitor during the monthly monitoring following the hand over
 Organize meetings with the villagers to inform them about any problem or news regarding the water supply of
the village
The members of the association can be chosen among the population that will be covered by the network. The
different positions and profiles are as followed
1.
Chairman Responsible for calling and coordinating meetings with the community and with other organisations
(Authorities, NGOs, AAH)
 Collecting documents for registration and registering the association at the Oblast Juridical office.
 Producing status report for monitoring by NGO, AAH and authorities
 Liaising with Authorities (Hukomat, Dekhan farms, SES, Rural Water Supply, NGO, AAH)
February 2004
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2.
3.
4.
5.
Should be somebody having a good influence and notoriety in the village, like a school director, a
chief of brigade for cotton picking etc…
 A minimum knowledge in electrical system is required, to deal with the electrical supply issue,
transformer, etc…
Bookkeeper
 Keeping an accurate and up to date cash book with all income and expenditures recorded
 Coordinating regular and timely collection of money
 Holding balance of fund and issuing cash with approval from the board
 Should be someone who has a minimum of knowledge of accountancy and paper work
Engineer
 Responsible for repairing and maintaining the system.
 Purchasing spares and replacements (including chlorine)
 Communicating any system problems to the board
 Should be somebody with a good knowledge of the water supply and electrical system engineering
Operator
 Daily operation of the system
 Security of all assets (pumps, buildings, tools, etc)
 Communicating problems to the engineer and other board members as necessary
 Should be somebody with a good knowledge practical of electrical system, or pumps
Village Representatives
 Where the system covers sevarl villages, each village will have representatives on the Board.
Their responsibilities will be to communicate between the members of their own village and the rest
of the board of the WUA and to coordinate the collection of money from their village (to limit the
burden on bookkeeper).
Remarks
- In Russian, the direct translation of the association created by Action Against Hunger is “Water User
Community”, since it is related to one village only. The “Water User Association” are covering water users
from several villages, Jamoat or farms.
- These water user association are not NGO’s, and they are not registered in the tax department. According to
the Juridical Center of Kurgan Tybbe, this is not necessary.
- It is still not clear whether the WUA can keep cash, and if yes, which amount, and for how long. According to
information given by a lawyer hired by ACTED, the only cash they are allowed to keep is the total amount of
the salary. In addition, if they keep cash for more than one year (from the 1st of January to the 31st of
December), this amount can be taxed. The only cash they can keep for more than one year is 3% of the total
amount of the assets they own (pump, transformer…). This clearly jeopardizes any effort they could make to
save money during several year in order to perform heavy repair, like the replacement of the pump.