An Assessment of the Physical Planning Challenges Associated with Municipal Water Service Provision in Informal Settlements of Jos Metropolis, Nigeria

This study investigated the physical planning challenges related to water service provision by Plateau State Water Board (PSWB). A semi structured open ended questionnaire, and a closed ended structured questionnaire was designed and administered to a sample of eight respondents (management staff PSWB) through face to face in dept interviews, and a sample of 369 residents of four informal settlements respectively. Data collected was analyzed in form of percentages for the residents while the interviews conducted was transcribed verbatim and analyzed with NVivo 12 software. Findings from the study revealed that the types of services provided by PSWB are; direct water connection to few households, standpipes/public taps/water kiosk mostly a collaborative effort. In addition, PSWB also sells water to vendors. These vendors are categorized into; tanker drivers and private service providers, they directly sell water to informal residents. These findings however confirm the results obtained from the residents in respect to the major water sources available. The most prominent physical planning challenges associated with water supply in informal settlements is the rocky and hilly topography, haphazard location of houses without enough space to lay water pipes, there are also planning issues associated with lack of accurate customer data, lack of strategic infrastructure plan for water provision. This study therefore recommends that the government institution responsible for urban development should be involved in creating a favorable environment for the execution of water projects through physical planning strategies.