Public water supply in many developing countries is characterized by persistent deficit, intermittent and unreliable service. In this context, a case study of 400 semi-urban households’ daily struggles to access clean water was carried out in Katsina state, Nigeria. The article provides insight on public water supply service situation and estimates the coping cost associated with alternative water sources. The main results reveal serious public water supply deficit, which forces households to rely on private water vendor for their daily water needs despite safety concern. The estimated average monthly coping cost was ₦23,877 ($15.92); equivalent to 17% of a typical household’s monthly income. Again, the coping cost is five times higher than the current average monthly domestic water tariff of ₦4,050 ($2.5) charge by Katsina State Water Board (KTSWB). Furthermore, income, location (town), water quality, education, and household size were the key drivers of coping cost. The state government plan to connect the studied towns to Zobe Dam water work should be fast-tracked. Moreover, the coping cost implicitly implies that, with appropriate tariff regime, households could potentially contribute financially to the optimal operations and maintenances of the water supply infrastructures.
