The provision 0/ improved waler supply service is a basic need, human righl and a prerequisilern/01' developmenl. lIo wever, millions a/people are slill IInable 10 oblain adequale polable waleI'rnparlicularly in ruml areas Ihal deserve special alieni ion. In order 10 meel Ihe demand. a dislanlrnpiped waleI' supplies 10 rural areas is emerging as an oplion where local waleI' sources arernscarce, conlaminaled or high level 0/ ser vice demand due 10 change (~/ Ihe life 'vlyle andrnpopulalion pressure, Hence, 10 ben~jil.Fom Ihe economies-o,t:scale, a dislanl piped ValeI' supplyrnsyslem is expecled 10 serve fIlUlli -village, the peljormance o/mulli-village ,valer supply ,Iyslem,rnhowever, becomes challenging and il rarely provide Ihe planned level 0/ services due 10 limiledrninvolvemenl o,/Ihe communily, low level 0/ cosl recovelY, lack 0/ adequale lechnical capacily,rninappropriale inslilulional arrangemenls and envirol1tllenlal /aclors. On Ihis Ihemalic area, lilliernwork has been done so .fclr abolll Ihe cllrrenl efjoris, praclices and challenges o/l11ulli-villagern,valer supply syslell1 al nalional level. To Ihis end. Ihis research Iries 10 assess and analyzernpraClices, challenges and prospecls o/lI1ulli-village rural waleI' supply ,1)l.l'Iem. 7his sludy isrnconduCled in lIilosa Mulli-village Rural WaleI' Supply syslem o/Oromia Regional SlCll e. IIrnemployed mllilisiage lechniques: purposil'e, slralijied and simple random sampling 10 seleCI IhernWS ,Iyslem. Ihe benejiciOlY kebleles and Ihe 1111 sllrvey respondenls. The syslem serves 19 /'IIralrnkebeles and Ihree lawns. All rural kebeles are involved in Ihe samplingfi'ame. 'Ihe benejicicllYrnkebeles are sl/'C/lijied based on agro-ecology, 0/ which, 6 kebeles(32%) were Pllrposivelyrndelermined CIS sample kebeles and proporlionally dislribuled. 11 10lal 0/ 222households werernsludied. lIousehold Sllrvey, Key In/ormanl Inler viell',, Field Observalions, and Focused CrouprnDiscussions are Ihe main research inSlrumenls. Mixed Iypes 0/ dala colleclion lechniques arernadopled 10 gal her suIjicieni and relevanl in/ormcllion jar Ihis sludy. Descriplive slalislics werernemployed 10 gene/'C/le fi'eqllency lables, averages, slandard devialions and graphs. The sludyrnrevealed Ihal Ihe pel/ormance of lIilosa communily managed };/V R WS syslem is subslanl ial inrnlerms of addressing Ihe local acule walershorlage, II was/ound oul Ihal Ihe praclices a/largernscale gravily waleI' supply syslem have good lessons Ihal could be replicaled 10 olher areasrnprovided Ihal a comprehensive sludy o/Ihe specijic local condilion is carried oul. Nowever.rncurrenlly, Ihere is suppressed sllpply Ihal considerably influences Ihe sali.l/aclion 0/ IherncOll1l11unily, This is due 10 dy.~jim clional and parlial fill1clional 0/ public laps. availabilily 0/rnwaleI' for shOl'l periad 0/ lime and low pressure, lack of qllalily spare paris and sllslainablernsupply chain and jelilllre 0/ ill1plemenling di!jerenl manuals and guidelines, weak financialrnmanagemenl, lack 0/ inslilulional legal el1lily, inadequacy 0/ lraining' and incenlives forrnvolllniaries members and lower sa ICilY scale/or Ihe recmiled slaIf ond lack o,//inancefor majorrnreplacemel1l and nell' source developmenl 10 meellhe groll'ing demand 'lhere/ore. Ihe sludy callrnfor: establishing slIslClinable spare paus supply chain llII'ough privale seclor, illlplemenling Iilernexisling rural waleI' sllPply guidelines and manuals. ensure inslillilionol legal enlily, seleci IhernwaleI' cOll1millee in lerms 0/ capacily and cOl11milmenl, provide adequale lrainings and allraClivernincenlives /0 the Ivaler commiflees, the waleI' managemenl board members and the recruitedrnslafT re view Ihe Waler Ildminisll'alion Office slaff'salOlY scale and mainlain apprvprialernbenejils. mobilize Jimds for major replacemenls and nell' source developmenl, ins lolling maSlerrnwaleI' meier al Ihe head o/Ihe waleI' source, conducling a delOil sludy on Ihe waleI' source slClIIISrnand due alieni ion mllsl be also g iven 10 prolecl Ihe Iwler source and develop approprialernmoniloring and evalualion mechanislI1 for shari and long lerm plans so as 10 ensure Ihernsuslainabilily and Ihe prospeci o/lI1ainlaining a service delivelY o/Ihe ,Iyslelll