Urban public water in Burkina Faso in the context of COVID-19

As soon as the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in Burkina Faso, the state drew up a ‘response plan’, a key measure of which was the provision of free water in urban areas (standpipes, a free usage allowance). Water is indeed the central link in preventing the spread of the epidemic. The financing needs of this measure were quantified and donor aid was requested. We first analyse the institutional context in which these measures were taken, and their consequences for the strategy and performance of the public water operator (ONEA). We then document, on the basis of a survey carried out in the unplanned neighbourhood of Bissighin in Ouagadougou, the way in which these actors appropriated—or not—these measures and the strategies they developed to guarantee the water supply in an uncertain context.