Access to safe and reliable water services in Nigeria remains undermined by fragmented governance and weak community systems. While previous research largely emphasized infrastructure delivery, the social and institutional dimensions that determine long-term functionality have received less attention. This chapter addresses that gap through an integrative review of academic literature, policy documents, and empirical case evidence drawn from community-managed and donor-managed water schemes across Nigeria from 2010 to 2025. The analysis synthesizes theoretical perspectives from Arnstein’s Ladder of Participation, Ostrom’s Common-Pool Resource Principles, and Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons to evaluate how community participation depth, institutional clarity, and rule enforcement shape water service outcomes. We found that community-managed systems, supported by transparent financial mechanisms and state backstopping, achieve higher resilience and accountability than donor-managed projects that lack local ownership. We also identified emerging innovations such as digital monitoring tools, tariff-based maintenance, and gender-inclusive Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Committees (WASHCOMs) as means to strengthen collective governance and reduce system failures. By linking theoretical insights with Nigerian field evidence, the chapter contributes a context-specific framework explaining how participatory governance can improve sustainability and equity in water service delivery. This work extends existing WASH literature by articulating the institutional and gendered pathways through which community participation transforms short-term access into long-term service reliability.