Climbing the Water Ladder: Multiple-Use Water Services for Poverty Reduction

Single water uses enshrined in the mandates of their organizations do not reflect the practice of their clients who take water from multiple sources and use it for multiple purposes. This report is structured around a jointly developed MUS conceptual framework, ‘principles’ that team members assumed to hold the key to implementing MUS in communities and scaling it up at intermediate and national levels. The leading principle is that livelihoods act as the main driver for water services. Access to the water people need is determined by sustainable water resources, appropriate technologies, adequate financing mechanisms and equitable institutions to manage communal systems.