RELEVANCE OF RURAL WATER SUPPLY FOR REALIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

In terms of communal service provision, Bosnia and Herzegovina is characterized by significant differences between urban and rural areas. Water supply in rural areas is among the main issues needing attention. Whereas certain improvements were introduced in the legislative and institutional frameworks in recent years, there are still significant problems related to the citizens' access to safe and affordable water services. According to the entity strategies on water management, 40% of country's population does not have access to controlled water supply. This is a considerable challenge in the context of meeting the Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) which imposes the task of reducing the inequality in water service provision for all people. Objectives of this paper are to identify the types of water operators in rural areas, analyze their performance and explore outcomes in terms of population coverage, service quality and efficiency, with special attention paid to the affordability issue. The primary data collection was conducted by screening the rural water supply situation in 48 local governments and studying 20 selected cases using structured interviews with local governments, service operators and 600 households. Local governments are legally responsible for water supply, but they operate negligible number of water schemes; public utilities operate 13%, while informal citizen groups operate 74% of water schemes. Due to informal character of the predominant operator, water delivered to rural citizens is of questionable quality. Findings of this research contribute to the empirical base for understanding of how water operators work and how citizens perceive services. Local governments are recommended to design innovative approaches for improved rural water supply, which will contribute to realization of SDG6.