ABSTRACT

Urban population  is  rapidly  increasing  in  Ilorin  along  with  attendant  increased  water demand. The inadequacies of water supply services has forced the populace to depend on dug wells, boreholes, water tankers, street vendors etc. for their water needs. People spend hour’s daily carrying jerry can all around to collect and queue for water at the public water tap with high opportunity cost of time and intense economic wastage. This study assess the sustainability  of  an  urban  water  supply  services  in  Ilorin  metropolis,  the  factors  that  has affected  delivery  of  services  and  estimate  the household  willingness  to  pay  for  improved service delivery.Household structured questionnaire was designed to collect data on household water used patterns  and  their  willingness  to  pay  for  improved  service  delivery.  Contingent  Valuation Method  was  used  to  place  value  on  water  supply  services  using  the  Double  Bounded Dichotomous Choice willingness to pay elicitation techniques. A data base was created using Microsoft  Excel  and  Stata  12  Software  to  model  and  evaluate  the  variables  that  affect household  willingness  to  pay.  The  results  of  the  study  reveal  that  about  92%  of  the  total households  surveyed  were connected  to  the  Government water  supply  out  of  which  87%reported  that  they  were  not  satisfied  with  the  existing  services.  The  results  furthered revealed  that  respondents  are  willing  to  pay ₦2500 monthly  to  enjoy  sustainable  water supply service delivery.