Paying for urban services : a study of water vending and willingness to pay for water in Onitsha, Nigeria

This paper presents a case study of water vending in Onitsha, Nigeria, one of the most important market towns in West Africa. It illustrates that a rapid reconnaissance survey of water vending activities and the willingness of households to pay for improved water services can yield valuable information for water supply planning and unexpected policy insights. The vast majority of Onitsha obtains its water from an elaborate and well-organized water vending system which has been created and is operated by the private sector. Approximately 275 tanker trucks purchase water from about 20 private boreholes and then sell it to households and businesses equipped with water storage facilities. Many of the households which purchase water from tanker trucks resell the water by the bucket to individuals who cannot afford large storage tanks or who cannot be reached by tanker trucks. During the dry season households obtain approximately 2.96 million gallons per day (mgd) from the water vending system, for which they pay about US$28,000. In 1987 the public water utility was supplying about 1.5 mgd during the dry season and only managed to collect US$1,100 in revenues. In the rainy season the revenues from water vendor sales were still several times higher than the water utility. On an annual basis, households in Onitsha are already paying water vendors over twice the operation and maintenance costs of a piped distribution system.