When access to improved water points does not lead to use: understanding consumption patterns in Burkina Faso

The correlation between access to drinking water, health care, proper nutrition and other development indicators is well known. At the national level, this often translates into the requirement to allocate additional funding to new infrastructure and in rural areas, this investment focuses mainly on water points and occasionally on small scale piped schemes. The assumption is that investment in infrastructure will lead to widespread use by households, attracted by convenience and quality of service. A recent survey from IRC in Burkina Faso, demonstrates that this is not always the case and a large proportion of households either compliment their domestic water consumption at informal water points, or rely on them for all their needs. This paper presents the results of the survey focused on understanding consumption patterns and identifying lead factors guiding households’ choices.