Empowering Conditions for Good Water Governance - a Sustainable Model: Vilanculos Case Study (Mozambique)

This article shows the results of the project Empowering conditions for good water governance—a sustainable model: Vilanculos case study (Mozambique), co-financed by the European Community. This project had the aim of improving sanitary conditions and increasing economic and financial sustainability of water services for the population of Vilanculos. The project has been developed and deployed with cooperation between Acque del Chiampo (an Italian water utility, near Vicenza), the University of Brescia and the Vilanculos public water service utility, Empresa Moçambicana de Agua (EMA). The paper reports analytical praxis for water distribution measurements, capable of providing essential data about the water network performances, to assess the eventual need for actions in order to solve possible and effective problems of the water service. These practices involve flow and pressure analyses, pinpointing of the network’s criticalities and leakages by in-situ inspections along the network, managing the valves together with water service utility, as well as the use of a water distribution model to simulate the effects of the proposed interventions and specific software to automatically register bills and payments.