Global water supply crisis has recently been designated as the highest
societal risk the planet faces in the coming decade (WEF, 20151
). A
third of the world’s population lives in water-stressed locations and
almost a billion people still live without access to safe drinking water
(WEF, 20152 ). Therefore, as urban cities grow, one of the main
challenges is how to use the available water supply in an equitable and
efficient way. While universal access to 24x7 piped water supply is the
ideal, the ground reality in developing countries is different. Peri-urban
and slum neighbourhoods tend to not be connected to the network
water supply and even when connected, intermittent service is the
norm. Therefore, a lot of households depend on alternative sources of
water to meet their needs, including water vendors who often sell water
directly to households via a multitude of ways including tankers, trucks,
donkey carts or bicycles. Hence, many parts of Africa, Asia and South
America are likely to remain dependent on water vendors for their
water supply for quite some time to come (McGranahan, 20063).