Trajectory to Sustainable Access to Water Supply in Informal Settlements of Developing Countries: A Conceptual Review

Access to water in informal settlements is indeed not sustainable. Concern for the underlying worth of water and its use for human well-being is integrated into sustainable access to water. Therefore, water should be available everywhere, enough for everyone to live a clean, healthy, and productive life. The aim of this paper is to have an in-depth idea of what constitute sustainable access to water, using water access indicator of water collection. A review of the determinants of water access from the perspective of water users (demand side), as well as the challenges of water provision experienced by the municipal water providers (supply side) was carried out respectively. In an attempt to achieve the aforementioned, literatures reviewed shown that the determinants (variables) that could affect residents access to municipal water supply water are; intermittent water supply, physical distance, queuing for water and multiple trips. From the providers perspective, there are; infrastructure challenges and physical planning challenges. Furthermore, a framework was developed to present the variables and their relationship base on concept of access. The framework developed provides the basis for solving problems that relates to sustainable access to water supply in informal settlements. This is however significant because the review provides a background for future empirical studies in respect to measuring the level of deprivation of informal residents to water access. Additionally, future studies can be carried out to determine the relationship that exist between these determinants, and to ascertain the major challenges of the municipal government in the provision of water in various geographical settings of developing countries.