Tensions between Formal and Informal Water Providers: Receptivity toward Mechanised Boreholes in the Sunyani West District, Ghana

Sustainable Development Goal 6 seeks universal access to safe water. This is ambitious, especially for developing countries, and meeting it will require reliance on informal water suppliers alongside traditional formal suppliers. We adopt a case study approach to explore water production in Ghana’s Sunyani West District. We observe that privately managed mechanised boreholes have become a major source of water in the district, in terms of the number of people they serve and the fact that they are successful in serving them. However, water users and formal water providers have different perceptions of these boreholes. This tension between formal and informal providers needs to be resolved and one possible way is through formalisation of the informal services. We propose a hybrid model for water governance by the District Authority and argue that this governance arrangement will formalise the operations of the informal mechanised boreholes and reflect the intimate co-production of water between the formal suppliers and the emerging informal providers in the district.