Using Material Flow Analysis (MFA), this research examines domestic water use in Nigeria’s Jos Metropolitan Area, emphasizing its importance for urban planning, infrastructure growth, and urban resilience. Rapid urban expansion, growing population needs, aging water infrastructure, and increasing dependence on alternative sources have placed mounting pressure on water security in Jos. Grounded in urban metabolism principles, the study uses an MFA framework to quantify the city’s water inputs, household consumption, distribution losses, and wastewater discharge. Data came from a structured survey of 400 households chosen through stratified random sampling, along with secondary sources including government documents, academic publications, and water service provider records. Descriptive statistics and material flow accounting methods were used for the analysis. Descriptive statistics and flow accounting methods were applied to the data. Findings show that Jos’s projected 2025 domestic water demand, for a population of 1,357,142, is roughly 60.55 million litres per day (MLD), averaging 44.6 litres per person daily. Household water use is largely devoted to cooking (31.8%), then drinking (25%), gardening (21%), sanitation (12.5%), washing (4.8%), and other domestic purposes (5%). The analysis further revealed that only 35% of the city’s domestic water supply comes from the Jos Water Board, with about 65% obtained informally via wells, boreholes, rivers, water vendors, and similar sources. Material Flow Analysis showed that system losses from pipeline leakages, outdated infrastructure, unauthorized connections, and poor network maintenance represent 20% (15.13 MLD) of total water input. About 85% of consumed water leaves as wastewater, while only 10% is reused, underscoring minimal recycling and inefficient resource recovery. The study concludes that domestic water in the Jos Metropolitan Area operates as a fragmented hybrid network, characterized by inadequate infrastructure, heavy reliance on informal sources, major water losses, and uneven access. These problems undermine water security, environmental sustainability, and the city’s resilience. To address them, the study recommends upgrading aging infrastructure, expanding formal supply coverage, integrating water systems into urban planning, regulating groundwater extraction, promoting rainwater harvesting and wastewater reuse, adopting smart water technologies, and routinely applying Material Flow Analysis to guide planning and decision-making for sustainable urban water governance.

Keywords: Material Flow Analysis, Urban Water Systems, Jos Metropolis, Water Security, Urban Planning, Nigeria.