An interventional study of Water Quality Assurance Fund in Water Quality, Water Treatment and Knowledge, sponsored by The Aquaya Institute. Status unknown at 2 sites in 2 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-08-26.
Sponsored by The Aquaya Institute · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other
The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of a novel financial and capacity strengthening intervention (the 'Water Quality Assurance Fund' program) on water safety management in rural Ghana and Kenya. The investigators hypothesize the intervention will improve water system operator knowledge, chlorination practices, and water quality at the point of collection, as well as improve consumer satisfaction, awareness, and willingness-to-pay for water that is tested and treated.
Regular water quality monitoring by water suppliers is essential for maintaining adequate treatment processes and verifying safe water quality to protect public health. Yet, many small water suppliers are unable to conduct regular water quality tests due to financial, logistical, and capacity constraints. The goals of the Water Quality Assurance Fund program are to address these constraints by incentivizing established laboratories to extend their services to these smaller water systems and, in parallel, promote the use of water quality data for better water safety management.
The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of a novel financial and capacity strengthening intervention (the 'Water Quality Assurance Fund' program) on water safety management in rural Ghana and Kenya. As part of the intervention, written legal agreements between water systems, centralized laboratories, and the organization facilitating the Assurance Fund will provide water systems with regular water quality testing and provide laboratories a guarantee of payments if water systems fail to pay for testing services on time. The Assurance Fund program will also deliver capacity strengthening, technical guidance, and community sensitization activities.
The investigators hypothesize the intervention will improve water system operator knowledge, chlorination practices, and water quality at the point of collection, as well as improve consumer satisfaction, awareness, and willingness-to-pay for water that is tested and treated. A secondary aim is to assess implementation challenges and enabling factors associated with the expansion of water testing services by existing professional water quality laboratories to rural water suppliers.
541 studies on the registry are indexed under Personal Satisfaction; 93 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 4,800 is above the median of 93 across 416 interventional studies indexed under Personal Satisfaction.
Browse Personal Satisfaction studies →The Aquaya Institute is the lead sponsor of 3 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.
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Eligibility to receive the intervention was determined by water system criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
To be eligible to participate in household surveys, participants need to be at least 18 years of age and a customer of a eligible water system.
In this study arm, intervention activities will start after initial baseline data collection.
Other: Water Quality Assurance Fund
The intervention activities are the same as those described in Arm 1. However, in this study arm, the intervention activities will start 6 months later than those in Arm 1. This arm will serve as a controlled comparison during those initial 6 months.
Other: Water Quality Assurance Fund
The intervention activities are the same as those described in Arm 1. However, in this study arm, the intervention activities will start 12 months later than those in Arm 1. This arm will serve as a controlled comparison during those initial 12 months.
Other: Water Quality Assurance Fund
In Ghana only, there is a fourth study arm that will receive the intervention one month prior to Arm 1. This group was non-randomly selected and will primarily serve to support qualitative lessons learned from the Assurance Fund program.
Other: Water Quality Assurance Fund
* At the water system level: Written legal agreements between water systems, centralized laboratories, and the organization facilitating the Assurance Fund will provide water systems with regular water quality testing and provide laboratories a guarantee of payments if water systems fail to pay for testing services on time (for up to three concurrent unpaid invoices). Regular debrief meetings will be held with water operators and local government authorities to discuss test results and water treatment options, and to encourage water systems to share water quality information with their consumers. Technical guidance to improve water treatment will be provided, if requested by water system operators or local government authorities. * At the community level: Community engagement, primarily at the onset, to inform the community about the water quality testing program and answer questions.
Adequate free chlorine residual in water at the point of collection
Free chlorine residual in water at the point of collection above targeted levels of 0.2 mg/L.
Time frame: Baseline, 6-months, 12-months, 18-months, 24-months
Detectable free chlorine residual in water at the point of collection
Free chlorine residual in water at the point of collection above detectable levels of 0.1 mg/L.
Time frame: Baseline, 6-months, 12-months, 18-months, 24-months
E. coli in water at the point of collection
E. coli in water at point of collection (binary and categorical).
Time frame: Baseline, 6-months, 12-months, 18-months, 24-months
Water system operator knowledge
Water system operator knowledge related to water quality (score out of 32 points on a knowledge assessment).
Time frame: Baseline, 12-months, 24-months
Consumer awareness
Household respondent is aware enrolled water is tested or treated
Time frame: Baseline, 12-months, 24-months
Consumer satisfaction
Household respondent is satisfied with water supplier. They will be considered satisfied if they report they are either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the water supplier. They will be considered dissatisfied if they report they are either very dissatisfied or somewhat dissatisfied with the water supplier.
Time frame: Baseline, 12-months, 24-months
Willingness-to-pay
Stated willingness-to-pay for treated and tested water for standpipe and private tap users (% increase and absolute increase in local currency).
Time frame: Baseline, 12-months, 24-months
Adequate free chlorine residual in household stored water
Free chlorine residual in household stored water above targeted levels of 0.2 mg/L.
Time frame: Baseline, 12-months, 24-months
Detectable free chlorine residual in household stored water
Free chlorine residual in household stored water above detectable levels of 0.1 mg/L.
Time frame: Baseline, 12-months, 24-months
E. coli in household stored water
E. coli in household stored water (binary and categorical).
Time frame: Baseline, 12-months, 24-months
Water system chlorination frequency
Water system operator reports weekly chlorinating frequency.
Time frame: Baseline, 6-months, 12-months, 18-months, 24-months
Water system revenue
Revenue reported by water systems.
Time frame: Baseline, 6-months, 12-months, 18-months, 24-months
Households use of enrolled water for drinking
Households use of enrolled water for drinking (binary).
Time frame: Baseline, 12-months, 24-months
Plan to share: Yes — De-identified individual participant data will be made available.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Informed consent form
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
This study is status unknown, as verified in Aug 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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