Governments of countries of the Danuberegion face the double challenge of meeting their citizensdemand for quality and sustainable water services, whilecatching up with the environmental requirements of theEuropean Union. In general, the bulk of public investmentshave targeted urban areas, resulting in the improvement ofdrinking water systems and the development of wastewatercollection and treatment infrastructure. This process islargely driven by EU accession and compliance targets and inseveral countries involves the regionalization of serviceproviders. However, rural areas are lagging and significantservice access gaps exist in comparison with urban areas.Approximately 28.5 million people remain without access topiped water supply and 22 million remain without flushtoilet access in the region, of which at least eight out of10 reside in rural areas. Goal 6 of the SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs) underlines the countries'commitment to achieving universal access to safe andaffordable drinking water and safe sanitation and hygienefor all by 2030. Understanding how to effectively reach therural population with "safely managed services" isparamount from the social inclusion as well as the humanrights perspective. Given that the significant access gapsare a major barrier to fulfilling the SDGs, this study waslaunched to increase awareness and knowledge on how ruralservice provision is organized, to understand whether andhow the aggregation through regional water utilities haseffectively reached rural areas, and to present lessons andrecommendations for expanding and improving the provision ofservices for rural populations. Seven countries— Albania,Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania,and Ukraine—were selected because they represent a widerange of rural water outcomes, different challenges, andsector reform contexts.
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