Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Introduction Water is a basic requirement for the existence and sustenance of life (plants and animal). Researchers have over the years debated extensively regarding the relative signifcance, adequacy of measure, sanitation and hygiene and water quality for the protection and improvement of human health. 1-3 Water is a universally available resource due to its naturally free occurrence that is being abused and taken for granted in most developing countries as there is no tangible information regarding its availability, cleanliness and quality. Potable water as it were, represents one of the rarest naturally occurring elements globally. 4 Water has become incrementally scarce in several parts of the world due to surges in population, physical development and climatic change related consequence. 5 According to the United Nations Environmental Programme, 5 by the year 2025, 1.8 billion people of the global population will be residing in regions with acute water scarcity. Also, most of the developing countries will be faced with water scarcity challenges that will be more than half of the population of these countries. 5 There is a signifcant and increasing challenge in developing countries where access to potable water in most urban areas is becoming an illusion (World Health Organization (WHO). 6 The Organisation further reported that about 780 million people globally do not have access to safe water which has caused about 2.5million persons to die of diarrheal related diseases yearly. This development has made access to safe water very important in developing countries that indicates a wide gap between existing infrastructure, population and city expansion. Urban development and planning in these countries have divergent curves because most urban dwellers provide safe water for themselves as prevalent in most slums and suburbs. 6 Countries with abundant fresh water resources are also faced with water shortage as a result of continuous water droughts attributed to climate change-related challenges which are gradually drying-up several surface water resources and further reducing the level of water in the aquifers reaching critical levels. 7 Water, as it is, is fnite, but it is an essential requirement for human usage especially residential, agricultural and industrial uses. Agriculture uses about 70% of freshwater for food production and irrigation. 8 In some residential neighbourhoods, when buildings are connected to pipe-borne water, Int J Hydro. 2020;4(5):182‒189. 182 ©2020 Chikagbum et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially. Challenges of private provision of potable water in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area and its Socio- economic implications Volume 4 Issue 5 - 2020 Wocha Chikagbum, 1 Ibama Brown, 2 Innocent I Weje 3 1 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic, Nigeria 2 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria 3 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Rivers State University, Nigeria Correspondence: Ibama Brown, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Email Received: August 16, 2020 | Published: September 07, 2020 Abstract Water is a basic and necessary requirement for the existence of animals and plants, yet it is limited in supply in several parts of the world. Surges in human population and demand for water for different purposes such as agricultural, domestic and industrial usages are the major factors leading to water scarcity. Nigeria and the study area are blessed with abundant water resources including surface and groundwater, yet there is a palpable lack of adequate and safe potable water. Consequently, the populace resorts to private sources of water supply which has its negative externalities even though the effort seems laudable. Based on the above, the study examined the proliferation of private water supply, its challenges and socio-economic implications in Obio /Akpor local government area. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey, and data were collected with the use of both closed and open-ended questionnaire. It also involved the collection of the private borehole points with the use of a handheld global positioning system (GPS). Data were analyzed using the descriptive method of analysis and data presented in charts and tables. The result of the study showed that there were no specifc distances maintained between borehole points, a good number of borehole locations were clustered in some parts of the study area. Also, distances between soakaway pits and borehole points were inadequate in some communities. Based on the prevalent minimum wage in the study area, both households that operate boreholes and those that buy water spent more. Some of the socio-economic implications of private provision of water supply include too much spending on water, creation of livelihoods for water vendors and vulnerability to waterborne disease such as typhoid since there is no minimum standard for borehole drilling and distance in the study area. The study recommended that the government should develop a private borehole drilling standard that would include the minimum distance that must be maintained between two boreholes on vertical and horizontal lines. Also, the activities of the private water vendors should be regulated, and operating license obtained before operating commercial boreholes. The study concluded thus, there should be a synergy between the private and public sector to ensure safe and affordable water supply since their activities cannot be undermined. Keywords: challenges, private, provision, water supply, socio-economic implications International Journal of Hydrology Review Article Open Access