In the absence of functioning municipal water supply for most of Port-au-Prince, private water vendors — ranging from small operators pushing carts loaded with plastic jugs to larger enterprises operating water kiosks and delivery trucks — had long formed the backbone of urban water access. The 2019 crisis disrupted this informal water supply network just as household income was collapsing, creating a water access emergency within the broader humanitarian emergency.
Vendors who normally traveled across the city to fill tanks from water sources reported being unable to move freely during protest and lockdown periods. Supply chains from the water treatment and distribution points that fed vendor networks were disrupted. The fuel shortages that periodically afflicted the country also affected vendors who used motorized transport.
For families already stretched by rising food prices and lost income, the cost of purchasing water from vendors — always a significant household expense in Port-au-Prince — became even harder to bear. Some families reported cutting back on water purchases and relying on sources of questionable quality, accepting the health risks as preferable to going without.
Water and sanitation organizations called for emergency measures to maintain safe water access during the crisis, including subsidized distribution to the most vulnerable communities and support for vendor networks to maintain their operations. They warned that deteriorating water access in a city still recovering from a decade-long cholera epidemic created conditions for a public health emergency within the humanitarian emergency.