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ForumGeneral discussion: Welcome to the Hub!How can utilities legally serve i …

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How can utilities legally serve informal settlements?

#1 · 13 September 2026, 10:41

Hi everyone! I have a question for the group.

During our Stockholm World Water Week panel, a major bottleneck came up: many utilities/ municipalities are legally unable to serve informal settlements because it falls outside their formal mandate.

While some cities (like Cape Town) have set up dedicated branches for informal areas, many utilities remain legally stuck.

What legal mechanisms, policy tweaks, or decrees have you seen work to give cities the legal green light to operate in informal areas?

We’d love to hear your experiences or city examples below! Thanks!

#2 · 22 September 2026, 14:30

This is so relevant. In India, individual tap connections or household toilets through government programmes are typically not permitted. Since eliminating open defecation was the principal objective of the Swachh Bharat Mission, its guidelines suggested sub-national governments to delink tenure issue and permitted providing subsidy to such households. To answer your question: It was through a policy directive (if I may call it so) that allowed cities to extend WASH to informal settlements.

Amita has reacted to this post.

#3 · 24 September 2026, 18:35

Thanks so much paresh! This concept of delinking tenure from basic service delivery seems a crucial policy mechanism. Do you have a link to a policy document, case study, or report detailing how these was done? I’d love to read more on the exact language used. Also, to the wider group: has anyone seen similar decrees or temporary service permits used in other regions? Would love to gather a few more comparative examples!

#4 · 30 September 2026, 08:53

Hi Paula,

This is an important question.

Following my recent research from my PhD, I believe that the issue is far more likely to be one of political influence (positive or negative) than it is of a change to the legal standing of informal settlements. Tenure is simply one of many indicators of what constitutes an ‘informal settlement’ and is notoriously difficult to change, given the complexities of property law and land registries in most countries, so it would make sense to delink tenure from service delivery permissions. However, this does not necessarily make informal settlements more attractive to service providers, or indeed prevent destruction of settlements due to access to services . At WaterAid we attempted to delink land tenure from service provision in Dhaka, and elsewhere back in 2001: https://www.ircwash.org/sites/default/files/WaterAid-2001-Land.pdf – I would write it differently now, but the core message stands – and I think the point that this has been a topic of consideration for the last 25 years suggests that the solution has not yet been found. There are many papers that have attempted to address this issue that I can share (along with a critique, if you are interested!)

Virginia

Amita Bhakta – Hidden WASH

How can utilities legally serve informal settlements?