水贫困

… water stress and scarcity, linking physical estimates of water availability with socioeconomic variables that reflect poverty, ie, a Water Poverty Index. … suffer from poor water provision, and …

… the water poverty index (WPI). The index was developed as a holistic tool to measure water … well as donor agencies, to determine priority needs for interventions in the water sector. The …

… water poverty. Using a well known data set for 147 countries from which an earlier five-component water poverty index … three-component composite index comprising of Access, Capacity…

The Water Poverty Index (WPI) was created as an interdisciplinary indicator to assess water stress and scarcity, linking physical estimates of water availability with the socioeconomic drivers of poverty. This index has found great relevance in policy making as an effective water management tool, particularly in resources allocation and prioritization processes. Two conceptual weaknesses exist in the current index: (1) inadequate technique to combine available data and (2) poor statistical properties of the resulting composite. The purpose of this paper is to propose a suitable methodology to assess water poverty that overcomes these weaknesses. To this end, a number of combinations to create the WPI have been considered, based on indicators selection criteria, simple aggregation functions and multivariate analysis. The approach adopted has been designed for universal application at local scale. To exemplify the utilization of each alternative method, they have been piloted and implemented in the Turkana District (Kenya) as a case study. The paper concludes that the weighted multiplicative function is the most appropriate aggregation method for estimation of water poverty. It is least eclipsing and ambiguous free function, and it does not allow compensability among different variables of the index.

The Water Poverty Index (WPI), introduced by Sullivan, is an inter-disciplinary tool that integrates the key issues relating to water resources, combining physical, social, economic and environmental information associated with people's ability to get access to water and to use water for productive purposes. It is most relevant at the community or sub-basin scales. This paper is concerned not with the development or underlying methodology of the index, but with how it can best be applied in practice to generate useful data, and then how these data may be used to generate benefits, especially for poor people who suffer from inadequate access to water. WPI values would need to be generated over wide areas, and this would require substantial institutional development. To do this, the use of existing census procedures and the needs for simplified data collection are considered, and the idea of widespread data collection through schools is examined. A number of technical issues relating to implementation of the WPI are discussed, particularly how the different spatial scales inter-relate and how the assessment of the physical resource and the collection of social and economic data may be made compatible. Finally, we discuss how the WPI value can be used in practice, and some of the issues and problems that this presents.

… of water stress, in such a way as to link physical estimates … water availability with the socio-economic drivers of poverty. To this end, some approaches to creating a Water Poverty Index …

… of an index or an indicator to a specific case. This paper assesses the applicability of Water Poverty Index for … At the same time, the paper discusses the concept of water poverty and the …

Abstract Water scarcity is a major issue that many countries, especially developing ones are facing. Climate change is expected to further exacerbate water scarcity in many parts of the world. The Water Poverty Index (WPI) is used as one of the important tools for measuring water scarcity. Although WPI is linked to the development of countries, the impacts of WPI components on the development are not clearly investigated. There are studies that demonstrate strong associations between water-related factors such as availability and accessibility, and development capacity. However, limited knowledge exists on the impacts of multiple WPI sub-components on the Human Development Index (HDI). This paper aims to assess the impacts of the WPI components (i.e., resource, capacity, access, use, and environment) on the HDI in Iran. For this purpose, the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression modeling is used. The results show that the resource component of the WPI has the largest impact on the HDI in Iran, followed by the capacity, environment, use, and access components. Also, while the use component inversely impacts the HDI, the increase in the other components leads to an increase in the HDI. Based on the findings, the paper provides planning recommendations for improving the WPI and consequently the HDI in Iran.

… indexes (HPIs) – HPI-1, HPI-2, and the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) – which are … of this entry is on water poverty and its measurement using the Water Poverty Index (WPI), …

… to assess the water situation across the country in a holistic manner. This paper proposes application of the Water Poverty Index as a comprehensive policy tool to assess actual water-…

Population growth and rising water demand, climate change, severe droughts, and land-use changes are among the top severe issues in Iran. Water management in this country is sectoral and disintegrated. Each authority evaluates water based on its final intention and there is no commonplace indicator for evaluation programs. In this research, we used the Water Poverty Index (WPI) to map the status of water scarcity in a north-eastern province of Iran. Water poverty was measured based on five components of “Resources”, “Access”, “Capacity”, “Use”, and “Environment”. The scores on each component were then aggregated using the weighted multiplicative function, assuming equal weights for all components. The overall WPI was evaluated to be 41.1, signaling an alarming and serious water poverty in the study area. Based on the results, Azadshahr (29.1) and Gorgan (61.6) districts had the worst and the best conditions among all cases, respectively. To better understand the importance of WPI components, four weighting alternatives were used; however, none of them resulted in a tangible improvement of WPI index. The cross-correlation between the components was also evaluated, with Access and Capacity showing significant results. Leaving out “Capacity”, however, reduced WPI by 8.1. In total, “Access”, “Capacity”, and “Use” had the highest correlation with WPI, implying that any attempt to improve water poverty in the province must firstly tackle these issues. This study showed that WPI is an effective indicator of water scarcity assessment and could be used to make priorities for policy-making and water management.

This paper summarises the evolution of the Water Poverty Index (WPI) application at different scales since its emergence. The review captures the main milestones and remarkable developments around the world. It sets the foundation for identifying the most appropriate version of the WPI, building on learning from previous versions. In addition, the paper sheds light on the linkages between the WPI and sustainable development goals and applications to fragile contexts. Therefore, it provides a synthesis of knowledge researchers and practitioners’ need in sustainable water resources management that helps boost human development in unstable/fragile arid and semi-arid contexts. The methodology included (i) WPI literature shortlisting and reviewing, (ii) review literature links WPI with sustainable human development and fragility, and (iii) data analysis, identification of gaps and future trends. Intensive research was found to address the limitations of the WPI. However, further research is needed to shortlist the multiple versions of the WPI and match them to their respective scale, purpose and context (including fragile contexts). In addition, a time-based WPI was rarely touched to forecast the impact of decisions on community welfare.

In terms of water resources, Jordan is considered one of the poorest countries in the world. Water resources management is one of the available options to decrease the gap between demand and resources. Water resources management requires optimum use of the available water resources taking into consideration resources availability, resources reliability, water use pattern, in addition to the socioeconomic issues. One of the most important aspects is human behaviour which has a strong impact on water management and on the ecosystem. Therefore, there is a need to follow a sustainable approach to improve the management and the understanding of the difficulties of water issues by integrating the physical, social, economic, and environmental aspects, as well as linking water issues to poverty indicator. In this paper, Water Poverty Index (WPI) will be used as a tool for water resources management. WPI was calculated based on five parameters: resources, access to water, capacity, use, and the environment. The Jordanian water strategy targets will be used to forecast the water situation in 2025 and calculate WPI. In 2002, the WPI was calculated and found at 46.3%, in comparison with higher figures for other countries. WPI was calculated for the year 2018, and the results showed a value of 50.7%. If the national water strategy targets and improvements will be successfully implemented, by 2025, the value is expected to be increased to 56.38%. Water resources are the most sensitive component of WPI. COVID-19 increased the rate of unemployment and poverty ratio which will affect WPI negatively. It’s concluded that WPI could be used as a valuable indicator to help evaluate the running plans and monitor the management performance.

… review the numerous perspectives on water insecurity, while … development of existing household water insecurity metrics, all … the measurements of household water insecurity currently …

Safe and secure water is a cornerstone of modern life in the global North. This article critically examines a set of prevalent myths about household water in high‐income countries, with a focus on Canada and the United States. Taking a relational approach, we argue that household water insecurity is a product of institutionalized structures and power, manifests unevenly through space and time, and is reproduced in places we tend to assume are the most water‐secure in the world. We first briefly introduce “modern water” and the modern infrastructural ideal, a highly influential set of ideas that have shaped household water provision and infrastructure development over the past two centuries. Against this backdrop, we consolidate evidence to disrupt a set of narratives about water in high‐income countries: the notion that water access is universal, clean, affordable, trustworthy, and uniformly or equitably governed. We identify five thematic areas of future research to delineate an agenda for advancing scholarship and action—including challenges of legal and regulatory regimes, the housing‐water nexus, water affordability, and water quality and contamination. Data gaps underpin the experiences of household water insecurity. Taken together, our review of water security for households in high‐income countries provides a conceptual map to direct critical research in this area for the coming years.

We extend the conceptualization of the social and health burdens of household water insecurity on children beyond the traditional narrow lens of microbiological pathogens and diarrhea. The global burden of disease associated with water insecurity has traditionally focused on diarrheal disease as the most significant driver of infant and child mortality. However, there are many other pathways through which children experience adverse health and social consequences from inadequate or unsafe household water. We synthesize evidence of a broad range of health impacts, affecting children from infancy to late adolescence, across four domains: exposure to unsafe water; interruptions to growth and development through poor nutrition and hydration; negative social effects such as school absenteeism and interpersonal violence; and other non‐communicable health issues such as mental health, injuries, and reproductive health. The growing burden and urgency of these issues is implicated by forecasted increases in climate‐ and conflict‐induced water scarcity, human displacement, and environmental contamination in the decades ahead.

Food and water insecurity have both been demonstrated as acute and chronic stressors and undermine human health and development. A basic untested proposition is that they chronically coexist, and that household water insecurity is a fundamental driver of household food insecurity.

Water is imperative for nutrition and health, economic productivity, and political stability; it also holds cultural and symbolic meanings and functions. Household water insecurity is an emerging construct that captures lived experiences with water access, use, and acceptability. Although the plausibility of household water insecurity to “get under the skin” and shape human biology is high, these relationships have not been systematically investigated. Therefore, in this article, we set out to examine how household water insecurity and allied concepts affect health and human biology throughout the life course. We first lay out the various ways that water insecurity can act as a deleterious exposure, that is, through problematic quality, excess, and shortage. Next, we posit how water insecurity directly shapes human biology, as well as indirectly, via psychosocial stress precipitating cortisol exposure, with potential intergenerational effects. We highlight a range of established and plausible biological consequences using evidence from human and animal model studies. These include diarrheal prevalence, dehydration, stunting, food insecurity, gut microbiome alteration, malnutrition, psychosocial stress, adverse birth outcomes, lower cognitive function and performance, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease. We also discuss the mechanisms by which household water insecurity may shape human biology across the life course; however, these pathways are just beginning to be understood. Longitudinal studies that simultaneously quantify household water insecurity and biological outcomes using comparable metrics in diverse environments and across generations will provide necessary evidence to establish causal relationships. Given the current global water crisis and its potential health consequences, such studies are urgently needed.

Objective To assess the links between structural and household determinants of household water insecurity and test three water insecurity measures against self-reported diarrhoea, dengue fever and perceived stress in the middle-income and low-income urban areas of Torreón, Mexico. Design Cross-sectional household survey conducted in two waves (rainy and dry seasons). Participants 500 households selected via multistage cluster sample in selected communities. Socioeconomic status determined the selection of participant neighbourhoods; five were identified in low socioeconomic status neighbourhoods and five in low-medium socioeconomic status neighbourhoods. We examine how the context of urban water provision is related to a new cross-culturally valid Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) Scale. Primary outcome measures The HWISE Scale, self-reported diarrhoea, dengue fever and the Perceived Stress Scale. Results Water system intermittency (adjusted OR (AOR) 3.96, 95% CI 2.40 to 6.54, p<0.001), unpredictability (AOR 2.24, 95% CI 1.34 to 3.74, p=0.002) and the dry season (AOR 3.47, 95% CI 2.18 to 5.52, p<0.001) were structural correlates of the HWISE Scale. This study also found that the HWISE Scale was associated with two health outcomes, self-reported diarrhoea (AOR 1.09, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.15, p=0.002) and perceived stress (β=0.28, SE=0.07, t=4.30, p<0.001), but not self-reported dengue fever (AOR 1.02, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.06). A 3-item hygiene subscore and a 3-item water worry subscore were also both positively associated with self-reported diarrhoea and perceived stress. Conclusion Short-form screeners of water insecurity may be useful for assessing certain health risks by lay survey workers in settings with limited healthcare resources, particularly in lieu of more expensive microbiological tests that require specialised training and facilities.

Household water insecurity (HWI) can have far‐reaching consequences for human health and well‐being, yet little is known about how environmental seasonality contributes to HWI variation. Using a systematic literature review, we examined the following questions: (1) How does environmental seasonality affect HWI? and (2) How do the effects vary over time? We also highlighted strategic areas for future research. We conducted the search using Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest, and EBSCO Academic Search Complete, with an end search date of February 3, 2021; only English‐language studies were included. Articles were included in the review if analysis studied seasonal temperature, precipitation, or freshwater variation and individual or household experiences with household water adequacy, water reliability, water affordability, or water safety. Bias was evaluated via hand assessment, and articles of poor quality were excluded. Studies that focused on extreme weather events or water insecurity at community or watershed levels were omitted. We identified 67 articles, the majority of which were cross‐sectional (n = 46, 68.7%). Among longitudinal studies (n = 21, 31.3%), only one used a quantitative HWI scale, while the rest relied on proxies (n = 20, 95.2%). Our review also revealed literature gaps related to unequal coverage of freshwater ecosystem habitat types and forms of environmental seasonality. There is a need for more attention to extreme climate events, such as a prolonged multiyear drought. With changing climate expected to exacerbate weather patterns with serious implications, especially for vulnerable populations, understanding seasonality in HWI is important for crafting sustainable engineering and policy responses to water insecurity.

Open access This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https:// creativecommons. org/ licenses/ by/ 4. 0/.

Household water insecurity is a complex socioecological challenge with a range of consequences for health and wellbeing. Understanding individual and household‐level coping strategies, i.e., responses or adaptations to manage water insecurity, can shape future research and development practice. We therefore (a) systematically describe the characteristics and contexts of 173 studies documenting coping strategies and (b) classify the types of strategies within four domains of water insecurity: access, use, quality, and reliability. Most studies were from Sub‐Saharan Africa or South Asia. In the domain of access, the most common coping strategies were building infrastructure, and storing, purchasing, and sharing water. For use, changing food consumption, agricultural practices, and hygiene were most frequently mentioned. For quality, water treatment was the most common strategy. To ensure water reliability, people most frequently reported changing routines or relocating their homes altogether. Our review provides a useful framework to understand coping strategies, but more research is needed to address three gaps in particular. First, we recommend more representative exploration of the range of coping strategies, particularly in middle‐ and high‐income countries. Second, the links between coping with water insecurity and a range of other nutritional, social, financial, and health outcomes need to be better understood to address overall household wellbeing. Third, we recommend the development of a metric to quantify individual and household‐level water insecurity‐related coping strategies. This line of inquiry can enable practitioners to design and implement context‐specific interventions that leverage preexisting strategies to improve experiences of water insecurity.

Background New metrics of household water insecurity have been validated for low- to middle-income countries, but it is unclear how these measurements apply to the experiences of people living in high-income countries. This project aims to develop and validate a novel metric for household water insecurity experiences in the United States (HWISE-USA) using a cross-sectional design and data from the Southwest, Midwest, and Western regions. Methods We outline the protocol for the development and validation of a novel household water insecurity scale for the United States to address this scientific need, including the following key steps: (1) item development through literature and theory; (2) pre-testing of items and expert review; (3) scale development and item reduction; and (4) scale validation. To assess the performance of the HWISE-USA scale, we will follow the same scale development analytics on a separate, quasi-nationally-representative U.S. sample. The scale will be generated from household survey data collected from communities at risk of water insecurity throughout the United States. Discussion We explain how a novel metric of water insecurity experiences for households in the United States has important implications for resource allocation, structural interventions, public health and infrastructure planning, and reductions in inequalities. Registration osf.io/zvqs4

Water security is one of the central global issues today. This study aimed to describe and test the validity and reliability of a household water insecurity scale, and to assess the impact of household water insecurity on psychological distress among 371 women living in urban Nepal. A household interview survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire. Approximately 70% of the participants experienced collecting less water than they needed. Four domains of household water insecurity emerged from the principal components factor analysis: (i) difficulties in house-work related to water, (ii) lost opportunity costs and social interactions related to water, (iii) an insufficient safe water supply, and (iv) difficulties in basic activities related to water. Multivariate regression analysis showed that the domains of ‘lost opportunity costs and social interactions’, ‘difficulties in house-work’ and ‘difficulties in basic activities’ were associated with psychological distress among women. The impact of household water insecurity on psychological distress differed by water supply service levels. The current household water insecurity scale is a simple instrument which can be used to prioritise the target population for water interventions. Further research should be conducted towards the development of a universally applicable measurement tool.

Compounding systems of marginalization differentiate and shape water-related risks. Yet, quantitative water security scholarship rarely assesses such risks through intersectionality, a paradigm that conceptualizes and examines racial, gendered, class, and other oppressions as interdependent. Using an intersectionality approach, we analyze the relationships between household head gender and self-reported socio-economic status, and water affordability (proportion of monthly income spent on water) and water insecurity (a composite measure of 11 self-reported experiences) for over 4000 households across 18 low- and middle-income countries in Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. Interaction terms and composite categorical variables were included in regression models, adjusting for putative confounders. Among households with a high socio-economic status, the proportion of monthly income spent on water differed by household head gender. In contrast, greater household water insecurity was associated with lower socio-economic status and did not meaningfully vary by the gender of the household head. We contextualize and interpret these experiences through larger systems of power and privilege. Overall, our results provide evidence of broad intersectional patterns from diverse sites, while indicating that their nature and magnitude depend on local contexts. Through a critical reflection on the study’s value and limitations, including the operationalization of social contexts across different sites, we propose methodological approaches to advance multi-sited and quantitative intersectional research on water affordability and water insecurity. These approaches include developing scale-appropriate models, analyzing complementarities and differences between site-specific and multi-sited data, collecting data on gendered power relations, and measuring the impacts of household water insecurity.

Climate change is now considered a primary global driver of migration, with water insecurity theorized to be a key determinant. Most studies have focused on large-scale climate migration events triggered by extreme weather events such as droughts, storms, or floods. But there are few studies of how climate change, interacting with background social, economic, and political processes, shapes the everyday household-level experience of water insecurity and subsequent migration decision-making beyond the contexts of disasters and agricultural livelihoods—an invisible ‘slow drip’ of migration. This review proposes a complementary, alternative framework for linking climate change, household-level water insecurity, and environmental migration by positioning household water insecurity as a critical pathway for shaping migration decision-making in the context of socio-environmental change. We present evidence that household water insecurity is a push factor that motivates household members to migrate due to water-related disruptions to physical and mental health, livelihoods beyond agriculture, and social relationships. We close with implications for anti-poverty and development initiatives, and for water interventions to mitigate forced climate migration.

… access and use under conditions of insecurity. Based on a relational approach (Hadley and … ), I define household water insecurity as prolonged experiences of inadequate water of …

Background Over 650 million people worldwide lack access to safe water supplies, and even among those who have gained access to ‘improved’ sources, water may be seasonally unreliable, far from homes, expensive, and provide insufficient quantity. Measurement of water access at the level of communities and households remains crude, and better measures of household water insecurity are urgently needed to inform needs assessments and monitoring and evaluation. We set out to assess the validity of a quantitative scale of household water insecurity, and to investigate (1) whether improvements to community water supply reduce water insecurity, (2) whether water interventions affect women’s psychological distress, and (3) the impacts of water insecurity on psychological distress, independent of socio-economic status, food security, and harvest quality. Methods and Findings Measures were taken before and one to six months after a community water supply improvement in three villages in rural northern Ethiopia. Villages similar in size and access to water sources and other amenities did not receive interventions, and served as controls. Household water insecurity was assessed using a 21-item scale based on prior qualitative work in Ethiopia. Women’s psychological distress was assessed using the WHO Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). Respondents were either female heads of household or wives of the heads of household (n = 247 at baseline, n = 223 at endline); 123 households provided data at both rounds. The intervention was associated with a decline of approximately 2 points on the water insecurity scale between baseline and endline compared to the control (beta -1.99; 95% CI’s -3.15, -0.84). We did not find evidence of impact of the intervention on women’s psychological distress. Water insecurity was, however, predictive of psychological distress (p <0.01), independent of household food security and the quality of the previous year’s harvest. Conclusion These results contribute to the construct validity of our water insecurity scale, and establish our approach to measuring water insecurity as a plausible means of evaluating water interventions. Improvements to community water supplies were effective in reducing household water insecurity, but not psychological distress, in this population. Water insecurity was an important predictor of psychological distress. This study contributes to an emerging literature on quantitative assessment of household water insecurity, and draws attention to the potential impact of improved access to water on women’s mental well-being.

… Existing methods to assess the state of household water insecurity focus largely on water … of household water insecurity. In contrast, a broader definition of household water insecurity …

The measurement of household-level and individual-level water insecurity has accelerated over the past 5 years through innovation and dissemination of new survey-based experiential psychometric scales modelled after food insecurity scales. These measures offer needed insight into the relative frequency of various dimensions of water problems experienced by households or individuals. But they currently tell us nothing about the severity of these experiences, mitigating behaviours (ie, adaptation) or the effectiveness of water-related behaviours (ie, resilience). Given the magnitude of the global challenge to provide water security for all, we propose a low-cost, theoretically grounded modification to common water insecurity metrics in order to capture information about severity, adaptation and resilience. We also discuss ongoing challenges in cost-effective measurement related to multidimensionality, water affordability and perception of water quality for maximising the impact and sustainability of water supply interventions. The next generation of water insecurity metrics promises better monitoring and evaluation tools—particularly in the context of rapid global environmental change—once scale reliability across diverse contexts is better characterised.

… modified version of the Household Water Insecurity Access Scale (HWIAS… water influence reported levels of water insecurity as well as amount of money and time savings, post the water …

The human right to water (HRTW) and sustainable development goals (SDG) emphasize that human well‐being depends not just on the quality and physical accessibility of drinking water, but also on its economic accessibility. Despite this recognition, governments and academics alike have been hard‐pressed to define and measure water affordability. In the US, affordability is no longer solely focused on utility cost‐recovery models but equitable water access for individuals and households. How should water affordability be measured to represent this new focus? This question motivates the critical review presented here. We propose that household‐centered affordability measures reflect the normative aims of internationally established frameworks such as the HRTW and the SDGs. Linking measurement to aims is essential to improve transparency and comparability across studies, and ultimately, to align measures with water access objectives. First, we characterize normative positions outlined in the HRTW and SDGs and identify defining features of water affordability. Second, we identify dominant definitions and measures of affordability, including novel approaches. Bringing the defining features of affordability to bear on existing measures enables us to identify several emergent debates in the literature where affordability measures could better incorporate the aspirations of the HRTW and SDGs. We conclude with recommendations on how to improve water affordability measurements, while recognizing the trade‐offs between ideal measures and practical implementation.

Rapidly‐growing concern among scholars and policy makers over residential drinking water affordability in the United States highlights the need to identify and assess the efficacy of potential solutions to address this problem. Accordingly, in this advanced review of the literature, we examine the state of scholarly evidence over the last 30 years on the prevalence and effectiveness of strategies to address household drinking water affordability in the United States. We classify interventions into four categories: rate structure designs, water efficiency programs, recurring bill assistance, and crisis relief. Our findings are twofold. First, the conceptual literature on affordability interventions is fairly robust, but demonstrates both tradeoffs and complementarities across the four approaches. Second, despite employing a PRISMA approach, we identify few empirical studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of affordability interventions in practice, especially the targeted approaches of recurring bill assistance and crisis relief. The literature on affordability interventions thus appears to lag considerably behind scholarship identifying and defining the problem of affordability. Accordingly, we suggest key questions throughout our review that need to be answered, thereby providing an agenda for future research on drinking water affordability solutions.

In the US, the cost of water and wastewater services is rising three‐times faster than inflation. Over the next 20–25 years, required investments in water infrastructure are estimated to exceed $1 trillion, further increasing service costs. Combined with stagnating income levels, especially for poor households, increased costs will likely aggravate water affordability issues. Here, we document the extent of water affordability concerns in the US across income, geography, and race. We find that 10% of households face water affordability concerns, defined as expenditures on essential water and sewer services greater than 4.5% of annual household income. Households in the lowest income decile pay on average 6.8% of their annual income on water and sewer service. Our estimates are based on a large‐scale data set on water and sewer rates matched with Census block‐group‐level socioeconomic characteristics and covering approximately 45% of the US population. We demonstrate that using median household income at the county level drastically understates the extent of the water affordability problem. Additionally, we find that the number of households facing affordability concerns is positively associated with the proportion of black residents and negatively associated with Hispanic residents even after conditioning on prices and poverty levels. Lastly, we show that self‐sufficient water affordability policies that provide a lump‐sum rebate to low‐income households and are paid for by income taxes redistribute the burden borne by low‐income customers with fewer unintended consequences for non‐essential consumption than policies that change marginal incentives for water and sewer consumption.

Water and sanitation affordability has drawn researchers’ attention over the past years due to the recent economic crisis and the growing role of tariffs on funding services. This paper conducted a systematic review of previous research on water and/or sanitation affordability and a critical qualitative discussion on the methodologies adopted. The research framework relied on a hybrid approach that combines systematic quantitative and narrative analyses. The literature review protocol applied returned 79 relevant studies published by journals and recognized international organizations and four key topics, namely affordability indicators, threshold, data source, and practical use of the analysis were identified and critically discussed. This paper contributes to the literature by presenting and discussing the most important water affordability issues and enlightening the potential role of the analysis in public financial policies.

Water affordability is central to water access but remains a challenge to measure. California enshrined the human right to safe and affordable water in 2012 but the question remains: how should water affordability be measured across the state? This paper contributes to this question in three steps. First, we identify key dimensions of water affordability measures (including scale, volume of water needed to meet ‘basic’ needs, and affordability criteria) and a cross-cutting theme (social equity). Second, using these dimensions, we develop three affordability ratios measured at the water system scale for households with median, poverty level, and deep poverty (i.e., half the poverty level) incomes and estimate the corresponding percentage of households at these income levels. Using multiple measures conveys a fuller picture of affordability given the known limitations of specific affordability measures. Third, we analyze our results disaggregated by a key characteristic of water system vulnerability–water system size. We find that water is relatively affordable for median income households. However, we identify high unaffordability for households in poverty in a large fraction of water systems. We identify several scenarios with different policy implications for the human right to water, such as very small systems with high water bills and low-income households within large water systems. We also characterize how data gaps complicate theoretical ideals and present barriers in human right to water monitoring efforts. This paper presents a systematic approach to measuring affordability and represents the first statewide assessment of water affordability within California’s community water systems.

Abstract Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 is “to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all”. To measure affordability of accessing clean water, coping cost approach has been adopted, and this paper contributes to the burgeoning empirical literature on measuring affordability. The objective of this paper is to estimate coping costs related to the erratic, unsafe, and inadequate water supply in the metropolitan area of Chennai, India. Based on the data collected from 423 households, we find that households in Chennai city resort to five main types of coping behaviors: collecting, pumping, treating, storing, and purchasing. We employ the multiple regression with robust errors, to estimate the determinants of the coping costs. We obtain the mean coping costs as INR (Indian Rupee) 553, and INR 658 per month for piped and non-piped households in this sample. For non-piped households, collection costs (time costs in traveling and queuing for collecting water) constitute 22% of the coping costs, while collection costs for piped households are less 2% of the coping costs. One interesting finding is the variation of coping costs with household income—these costs are roughly 1% of income for the high income households to as high as 15% for the low income households. The results outline the need of policy intervention to enhance affordability.

While basic access to clean water is critical, another important issue is the affordability of water access for people around the globe. Prior international work has highlighted that a large proportion of consumers could not afford water if priced at full cost recovery levels. Given growing concern about affordability issues due to rising water rates, and a comparative lack of work on affordability in the developed world, as compared to the developing world, more work is needed in developed countries to understand the extent of this issue in terms of the number of households and persons impacted. To address this need, this paper assesses potential affordability issues for households in the United States using the U.S. EPA’s 4.5% affordability criteria for combined water and wastewater services. Analytical results from this paper highlight high-risk and at-risk households for water poverty or unaffordable water services. Many of these households are clustered in pockets of water poverty within counties, which is a concern for individual utility providers servicing a large proportion of customers with a financial inability to pay for water services. Results also highlight that while water rates remain comparatively affordable for many U.S. households, this trend will not continue in the future. If water rates rise at projected amounts over the next five years, conservative projections estimate that the percentage of U.S. households who will find water bills unaffordable could triple from 11.9% to 35.6%. This is a concern due to the cascading economic impacts associated with widespread affordability issues; these issues mean that utility providers could have fewer customers over which to spread the large fixed costs of water service. Unaffordable water bills also impact customers for whom water services are affordable via higher water rates to recover the costs of services that go unpaid by lower income households.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze the affordability and sustainability of residential water consumption in Ecuador, a developing country.Design/methodology/approachTo determine affordability, the authors assess water consumption and its distribution across different income levels of the population in the three main cities: Cuenca, Guayaquil and Quito. The authors then simulate the effects of a pricing policy on sustainability by deriving demand elasticities through a quadratic almost ideal demand system (QUAIDS).FindingsResults show that Ecuador has low water tariffs with respect to other cities in Latin America, which points to its affordability. However, sustainability might not be guaranteed since consumption is overall higher than the level suggested by the World Health Organization. From an economic point of view, this could be motivated by the low tariffs. Indeed, the simulation of a pricing policy shows that higher prices can significantly reduce demand for most of the sample. However, in low-income households this reduction may compromise vital consumption.Research limitations/implicationsThis research has important implications in terms of stimulating the discussion of how water affordability and sustainability can be achieved. For the case study, Ecuador, the results indicate that sustainability may not be guaranteed and that policies need to be designed to encourage it. Another implication is that population income levels should be considered to avoid negative effects for the most vulnerable groups. The main limitations of this study are methodological. First, the QUAIDS model is based on a conditional demand model (Zhen et al., 2013), which does not take into account spending on other goods. Second, data availability is limited and prevents a deeper analysis.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to analyze these issues in Ecuador, a country that recognizes the human right to water at the constitutional level.

ABSTRACT By improving the operational capacity of utilities, smart water systems may enable utilities to improve access to water services and their affordability. Use of smart technologies is increasing in leading-edge utilities for this purpose. However, water access may be problematic where utilities perform poorly or when utilities do not choose to extend universal service, and smart tools can address both problems with increased effectiveness of operations and improved customer interfaces. In either setting, effective governance is required, and security and privacy issues will be of concern. To explore the feasibility of smart tools, demonstration projects will be needed with political and financial support. An example of using smart tools to facilitate service extension in collective housing is presented. While this is one way to use smart tools, other pathways are available, especially their use to improve overall effectiveness of utility operations.

One common method for assessing the affordability of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services is to compare a household’s reported WASH expenditure, as a proportion of total household ...

Households that cannot be able to afford their water bills may lose access to drinking water and wastewater services. This study seeks to quantify how many households may struggle to pay for water services across 787 of the largest drinking water providers located within each state of the United States. Household water affordability is the ability for a household to pay for basic water services without undue hardship. Here, we select 6,000 gallons per month (22.7 m3/mo) as sufficient to meet basic needs and define undue hardship as spending more than 4.6% of household income (one day of labor each month) to pay for water services. Monthly bills are combined with census income data based on service area boundaries to determine how many households are spending more than 4.6% of their income on water services. We find that basic water services are unaffordable for 17% of the households (28.3 million persons) in this study. The median, or representative community, has one in seven households spending more than 4.6% of their income paying for water services. We developed a data visualization tool to allow users to explore how affordability challenges change across different volumes of water usage and levels of financial hardship (https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/water-affordability/water-affordability-united-states). This research shows that household water unaffordability is not a localized problem but rather is a challenge experienced by households in communities across the nation.

The aim of this paper is to examine empirically the impact of privatization on water access and affordability in Malaysia using household expenditure data. The development of water …

Affordability of water services is a pressing water policy issue for both the developed and, in particular, for the developing world. Despite its well-known theoretical shortcomings, affordability analysis of water supply has, up to now, been widely based on the ratio of a household's water expenditure to its income, the Conventional Affordability Ratio (CAR). However, in the housing sector, alternative concepts for measuring affordability have been developed, among them being the ‘Potential Affordability Approach’ (PAA) and the ‘Residual Income Approach’ (RIA). Against this background, this paper compares these three prominent affordability measures (CAR, PAA, RIA) on the basis of an empirical case study of a peri-urban, low-income area in the second largest Mongolian city of Darkhan, using household data from a survey conducted in 2009. Thus we gain insight into both the water-related affordability situation of people in Mongolia, checking the World Bank's finding of an absence of water affordability problems in peri-urban areas in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar, as well as into the comparative functionality of different affordability measures. It is shown that affordability problems do occur but have to be distinguished depending on the economic causation. We argue that none of the regarded measures give a satisfyingly contoured notion of affordability properly distinguished from the adjacent problems of poverty and access.

… Governments have often depended on inadequate affordability analyses, if any, to identify … water supply and sanitation services. This paper proposes a comprehensive affordability …

… affordability necessarily focus on prices. Affordable water service might require subsidies to the water system from revenue sources other than rates (to reduce water bills) or assistance …

AbstractCommonly used approaches for studying water affordability in developing countries tend to focus on households that pay for their water supply (revealed affordability). A major problem of th...

In developed countries, water affordability issues are regarded as a non-significant problem. This paper analyses the prevalence of affordability problems at household level and the determinants that might affect their occurrence. From a questionnaire-based survey, Portuguese household level data are used to show that average measures can mask affordability issues for substantial proportions of the low income groups. Findings also indicate that to tackle affordability problems more successfully, special tariff schemes should consider household income, size (large families) and composition (children in poorer households).

Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) remain fundamental public health components for children's survival, growth, and development. In Nigeria, children under 18 years are most deprived of WASH, with about 70 per cent lacking access to facilities. There is paucity of information on factors associated with WASH facilities deprivation in Nigeria, especially in the context of children. Hence, this study examines the household and individual factors related to WASH facility deprivation among children 0–17 years old in Nigeria. A secondary analysis of the 2021 Nigeria Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) was conducted to assess facility deprivations in WASH for children, along with associated determinants. A merged dataset comprising a total of 22,059 weighted observations from both the under-five children and children aged 5–17 years was used for this study. Frequency tables, pie charts and bar graphs were used to examine the prevalence of WASH facility deprivation among children. A Chi-square statistical test was performed to determine associated factors with child WASH facilities deprivation in Nigeria at a p-value of less than 0.05 level of significance. This study found that at least one-third of children in Nigeria were deprived of either one or more WASH facilities. Specifically, 32% were deprived of water, 40% were deprived of hygiene facilities and 67% were deprived of sanitation facilities. Children aged 5–9 (37.6%) were the most deprived of WASH facilities in Nigeria. Across all regions of the country, more children were deprived of sanitation when compared to water and hygiene. Overall, the wealth index and geopolitical zone significantly influenced access and availability of WASH facilities for children in Nigeria. Specifically, the education of the household head and wealth index are associated with access to sanitation facilities, place of residence is significantly associated with availability of water while access to hygiene facilities is significantly associated with the sex of the household head. The study concludes that there is a correlation between factors and the increased likelihood of children experiencing WASH facilities deprivation. Although the influence of these factors increases based on determinants and varies by regional dimensions, there are still insufficient implementation practices where deprivation is minimal, and this is influenced by household and other factors.

Household levels of deprivation to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) and residential conditions in slum settlements of Lagos, Nigeria were assessed and mapped using slum deprivation index (SDI). A structured questionnaire was administered to 1,398 households in 16 settlements using a random sampling method. Descriptive statistics and SDI were employed to analyze the data while ArcMap was used to map the patterns of SDI. The results show that households live in poor dwelling conditions with limited access to WaSH facilities. The SDI indicates that 18.7% of the slums are highly deprived. Based on WaSH and dwelling and physical environment (DPE) components, 18.75 and 31.25% of the slums are highly deprived. Water, sanitation, and hygiene indicators show that 37.5, 12.5, and 56.25% of the slums are highly deprived respectively. About 50, 37.5, 43.75, and 31.25% of the slum are highly deprived based on dwelling, waste disposal, waste pile, and stagnant water respectively. The study concluded that six settlements live in deplorable WaSH and DPE conditions. The study recommends urgent intervention for planning and resources allocation, and sustained urban renewal programs at Oko-Baba, Ilaje, Oko-Agbon, Abule-Nla, and Badia for improved WaSH and living conditions for sustainable service delivery and healthy slum settlements.

Background: Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) remain fundamental public health components critical for children's survival, growth, and development. In Nigeria, children under 18 years are most deprived of WASH, with about 70 per cent lacking access to facilities. There is paucity of information on factors associated with WASH deprivation in Nigeria, especially in the context of children. Hence, this study examine the factors associated with water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) deprivation among children 0-17 years in Nigeria. Method: A secondary analysis of the 2021 Nigeria Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) was conducted to assess deprivations in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) for children, along with associated determinants. A merged dataset comprising a total of 22,058 weighted observations from both the under-five children and children aged 5-17 years was used for this study. Frequency tables, pie charts and bar graphs were used to examine regional variations child health deprivation. Chi-square statistical test was performed to determine associated factors with child health deprivation in Nigeria at p-value of less than 0.05 level of significance. Results: This study found that at least one-third of children in Nigeria were deprived of either one or more of water, sanitation or hygiene. Specifically, 32% were deprived of water, 40% were deprived of hygiene facilities and 67% were deprived of sanitation facilities. Across all regions of the country, more children were deprived of sanitation when compared to water and hygiene. Overall, wealth index and geopolitical zone significantly influenced access and availability of WASH facilities for children in Nigeria. Specifically, the education of the household head and wealth index are associated with access to sanitation facilities, place of residence is significantly associated with availability of water while access to hygiene facilities is significantly associated with the sex of the household head. Conclusion: The study concludes that there is a correlation between factors and the increased likelihood of children experiencing water, sanitation and hygiene deprivation. Although the influence of these factors increases based on determinants and varies by regional dimensions, there are still insufficient implementation practices where deprivation is minimal, and this is influenced by household and other factors.

… ‐level WASH poverty indices … WASH poverty among Indian districts using Moran’s I statistics. The results showed moderate to very high spatial dependence of every dimension of WASH …

Multiple established connections link access to safely managed water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and gender equality. As development actors seek to attain the fifth and sixth Sustainable Development Goals, the need to measure WASH programs' contributions to gender equality outcomes is increasingly pressing. Yet the measurement of such outcomes remains challenging. This article describes and justifies the theory, concepts and decisions that underlie a recently developed quantitative measure of gender equality in WASH — the water, sanitation and hygiene gender equality measure (WASH-GEM) — and outlines key tensions navigated in its development. We developed the WASH-GEM through a collaborative, iterative process informed by a feminist perspective, critical review of relevant literature, pilot implementation and partner engagement. We report on five design considerations critical for the robust design of quantitative measures of social change: conceptual framing; measurement focus; measurement context; sectoral scope; and evaluative scope. We also define the WASH-GEM's five domains of measurement: Resources; Agency; Critical consciousness; Wellbeing; and Struc- tures, and discuss how we balanced theoretical integrity with practical application and relevance to WASH. In reflecting on the WASH-GEM design, this article contributes to a critical discourse on methodological challenges and imperatives in the measurement of complex social change.

Access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation and hand hygiene (WASH) is fundamental to human health and sustainable development, yet large segments of the population in sub‐Saharan Africa continue to lack adequate access to these essential services. Moreover, even households already with access face the risk of water shortages due to climate change and related factors. Existing evidence on WASH inequality has largely focused on observed poverty and income‐based disparities, overlooking households that are vulnerable to future deprivations. This study contributes to the literature by examining economic inequalities in WASH uptake among poverty‐vulnerable households in sub‐Saharan Africa using harmonised Demographic and Health Survey data from 33 countries. We adopt a vulnerability‐to‐multidimensional‐poverty framework and employ a three‐stage feasible generalised approach to estimate vulnerability and identify households at risk of poverty. We employ concentration indices and decomposition techniques to quantify and explain inequality in WASH access among these households. Our results show that access to WASH is disproportionately concentrated among less vulnerable households, with inequalities being pronounced in urban areas but varying across sub‐regions. Vulnerability to multidimensional poverty emerges as the dominant driver of WASH inequality, accounting for a substantial share of observed disparities across all indicators. These findings underscore the importance of designing vulnerability‐sensitive and spatially differentiated policies to achieve equitable and sustainable progress toward universal access to WASH services.

… survey to inspect the actual WASH conditions and understand socio-economic variations. Above all, the study would help to identify the deprived districts where the government should …

… and deprived areas. This study fills the gap by examining the operation and sustainability … WASH in schools in the northern part of Ghana [noted to be the most vulnerable and deprived …

Despite some progress, universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) by 2030—a remit of Sustainable Development Goal 6—remains a distant prospect in many countries. Policy-makers and implementers of the WASH sector are challenged to track a new path. This research aimed to identify core orienting themes of the sector, as legacies of past processes, which can provide insights for its future. We reviewed global policy, science and programmatic documents and carried out 19 expert interviews to track the evolution of the global WASH sector over seven decades. We situated this evolution in relation to wider trends in global health and development over the same time period. With transnational flows of concern, expertise and resources from high-income to lower-income countries, the WASH sector evolved over decades of international institutionalisation of health and development with (1) a focus on technologies (technicalisation), (2) a search for generalised solutions (universalisation), (3) attempts to make recipients responsible for environmental health (responsibilisation) and (4) the shaping of programmes around quantifiable outcomes (metricisation). The emergent commitment of the WASH sector to these core themes reflects a pragmatic response in health and development to depoliticise poverty and social inequalities in order to enable action. This leads to questions about what potential solutions have been obscured, a recognition which might be understood as ‘uncomfortable knowledge’—the knowns that have had to be unknown, which resonate with concerns about deep inequalities, shrinking budgets and the gap between what could and has been achieved.

Introduction Access to affordable and improved Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities is essential for people's daily lives, and it is the primary goal of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG-6). However, achieving this goal is a significant challenge for many countries, including India. The aim of this study is to assess the progress made towards achieving SDG-6 targets in Indian districts, states, and Union Territories (UTs) and to identify clusters by measuring spatial inequality of WASH coverage in India. Aim and objective The primary objective of this study is to measure the progress made towards achieving the SDG-6 targets for WASH facilities in Indian districts, states, and UTs. To fulfill this objective, the study used the household data of the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) conducted from 2019 to 21. Data and methods The study used the household data of NFHS-5, which is a nationally representative survey that provides information on household and individual-level characteristics related to health and nutrition. The study identified the variables associated with WASH and created a composite index to measure WASH coverage separately and combined. The study used Gini coefficient to show WASH inequality, and Moran's statistics were used to show spatial dependency. Result The study found that the inequality of improved water coverage sources in Indian districts was high. Western and northeastern districts need to catch up in terms of achieving the SDG-6 targets. The value of the Gini coefficient (0.29) indicates that inequality in sanitation coverage is also high. All states have reached close to SDG-6 achievement in hygiene indicators. Goa, Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep are close to the overall WASH coverage achievements of SDG-6. However, Jharkhand, Orissa, Tripura, Assam, and Rajasthan are behind in meeting the goal of SDG-6. Conclusion The study suggests that more government initiatives and investments are needed to increase the availability, accessibility, and affordability of WASH facilities to improve WASH conditions in western and northeastern Indian districts. The localization or bottom-up approach by giving responsibility to rural and urban local bodies can also help enforce the achievement of SDG-6. The findings of this study can be used to guide policymakers in developing targeted interventions to improve WASH conditions and reduce inequality in India.

… It can be said that the AF approach measures the breath, depth and severity of multidimensional deprivation among children; the approach is flexible for it allows the inclusion of …

The importance of measuring inequalities in sustainable development is reflected in the requirement to disaggregate national data for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this paper, piped water access, water use and water stress are mapped and reported at national, provincial, district, municipal, town and ward levels, and urban and rural areas. The results show that although 45% of the population has water access in their dwelling this ranges from 0.07% to 100% at ward level, with a high level of inequality (Gini index of 0.36). National per capita water use is 208 litres per person per day (l/c/d) but ranges from 8 l/c/d to 2,414 l/c/d at town level, with a Gini index of 0.27. The analysis shows that social factors, such as water access and income, and not natural factors, such as rainfall or runoff, have the greatest influence on per capita water use. The paper provides the first in-depth analysis of per capita water use at the local level across South Africa and suggests new water indicators that could support equitable allocation of water resources and SDG reporting.

Abstract Given an uneven distribution of water resources and different developing phases among the provinces in China, relatively equal water resources exploitation (WRE) at the provincial level is necessary to promote a coordinated development in the face of increasing regional differentiation. In this study, the deprivation theory is introduced to measure the inequality of the provincial WRE and the general deprivation index (GDI) of the WRE is calculated for 31 provinces in China during three periods (2006, 2011, and 2015); the local indicators of spatial association (LISA) is employed to detect the spatial patterns and the regional differences of the provincial GDI of the WRE. The spatial distribution of the inequality of WRE indicates that provinces with a low and medium GDI account for 71%–74% of all the provinces from 2006 to 2015. Provinces with a very high and very low GDI are mostly located in the frontier areas of the western region (WR) and in the well-developed eastern coastal areas respectively. The aggregation of the provincial GDI of the WRE occurs in Xinjiang and Tibet (high-high class) and in Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai (low-low class) at the 5% significance level. The WR has the largest absolute inequality of WRE, followed by the central region (CR) and the eastern region (ER). A multiple regression analysis is used to explore the possible driving forces behind the inequality of WRE; the main drivers of the deprivation of WRE are the water use per 10,000 yuan of the gross domestic product, the per capita water resources, and the water use per 10,000 yuan of value added by industry; these parameters have large positive correlations with the GDI. Policies such as enhancing the inter-provincial socioeconomic and technological exchanges, proper compensation, and improving the water use efficiency would provide an equal distribution of the WRE.

Securing water supply in the face of increasing water scarcity is one important challenge faced by humanity in sustainable development. Inter-basin water transfer is widely applied to provide water supply security in regions where water demand exceeds water availability. However, the effect of inter-basin water transfer on alleviating water scarcity and its inequality is poorly understood especially at the national scale. Based on a newly compiled database of inter-basin water transfer projects in China, here we report a first national assessment of their effect on securing water supply in different basins. We developed a number of indices to facilitate quantifying the effect of water transfer on water scarcity and its inequality. The capacity of inter-basin transfer projects has been steadily increased, which achieved ~48.5 billion m3 yr-1 by 2016 (equivalent to ~8% of the national water use). The results indicate that water transfer has impacted water supply of 43 sub-basins out of a total of 76 sub-basins, but it hardly changes a basin's water scarcity level (e.g., from water scarcity to low water scarcity). Approximately three quarters of people in China are affected by water transfer. More than a half of the national population (705 million) benefit from alleviated water scarcity, leading to the inequality coefficient reduced from 0.64 under natural water availability condition to 0.59 considering water transfer in 2016. However, 357 million people in water transfer source basins are subject to increased water scarcity, in which ~21% are from water stressed sub-basins. This study reveals for the first time water transfer induced water scarcity and inequality change across sub-basins in China, and highlights the challenges to secure water supply across basins.

Inadequate water quality can mean that water is unsuitable for a variety of human uses, thus exacerbating freshwater scarcity. Previous large-scale water scarcity assessments mostly focused on the availability of sufficient freshwater quantity for providing supplies, but neglected the quality constraints on water usability. Here we report a comprehensive nationwide water scarcity assessment in China, which explicitly includes quality requirements for human water uses. We highlight the necessity of incorporating water scarcity assessment at multiple temporal and geographic scales. Our results show that inadequate water quality exacerbates China’s water scarcity, which is unevenly distributed across the country. North China often suffers water scarcity throughout the year, whereas South China, despite sufficient quantities, experiences seasonal water scarcity due to inadequate quality. Over half of the population are affected by water scarcity, pointing to an urgent need for improving freshwater quantity and quality management to cope with water scarcity. The impact on inadequate water quality on water scarcity is unclear. Here the authors quantify China’s present-day water scarcity and show that inadequate water quality exacerbates China’s water scarcity, which is unevenly distributed across the country.

… However, water … spatial distribution that denotes a great inequity. The objective of this research is to evaluate the configuration of the spatial patterns that define the differences in water …

Water Inequality, Water Security and Water Governance are fundamental parameters that affect the sustainable use of water resources. Through policy formulation and decision-making, Water Governance determines both Water Security and Water Inequality. Largely, where Water Inequality exists, Water Security is undermined through unsustainable water use practices that lead to pollution of water resources, conflicts, hoarding of water, and poor sanitation. Incidentally, the interconnectedness of Water Governance, Water Inequality and Water Security has not been investigated previously. This study modified the Gini coefficient and used a Logistics Growth of Water Resources Model (LGWR Model) to access Water Inequality and Water Security mathematically, and discussed the connected role of Water Governance. We tested the validity of both models by calculating the actual Water Inequality and Water Security of Ghana. We also discussed the implications of Water Inequality on Water Security and the overarching role of Water Governance. The results show that regional Water Inequality is widespread in some parts. The Volta region showed the highest Water Inequality (Gini index of 0.58), while the Central region showed the lowest (Gini index of 0.15). Water Security is moderately sustainable. The use of water resources is currently stress-free. It was estimated to maintain such status until 2132 ± 18 when Ghana will consume half of the current total water resources of 53.2 billion cubic meters. Effectively, Water Inequality is a threat to Water Security, results in poverty, under-development heightens tensions in water use, and causes instability. With proper Water Governance, Water Inequality can be eliminated through formulating and implementing approaches that engender equal allocation and sustainable use of water resources.

… The hydrosocial inequalities that help shape the landscape of Lima certainly go beyond the ‘… Under conditions of uneven development and sociospatial inequalities, the scarcity of water …

Abstract In 2014 and 2015, political intransigence combined with a severe drought to push Sao Paulo, Brazil, to the edge of a profound water crisis. In this paper, I consider the response to the crisis on behalf of the state government. I analyze the suite of actions taken to cope with scarcity, focusing specifically on the state's employment of pressure reductions in the water pipes as opposed to a formal rationing. I argue that despite the state government's claims that only a small minority was going without water, the reality was that water shortages were being felt throughout the city and residents of the urban periphery were being disproportionately impacted. Uneven experiences of scarcity were produced by the combination of existing inequities in city's water infrastructure and the differentiated abilities of residents to store water in small-scale reservoirs commonly referred to as caixas d’agua. Understanding the co-production of water (in)security in crisis contexts has implications for how we understand the nature of contemporary urban governance and the techno-politics of the contemporary city, and offers insight into scholarship on the political ecologies of the state and the distributed nature of governance. Additionally, it suggests that more research is needed into the critical role played by adaptive technologies of water storage in the hydrosocial cycle.

… scarcity. Also included in this section is a discussion on the … of water scarcity in some of the current approaches to water … -level water supply, and particularly the issue of inequality of …

… water consumption. The observed spatial inequality in distribution, and access to piped water … for deliberate planning and governance to improve water distribution to match the speed of …

The 2018 United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR) warned that nearly 6 billion people could face clean water scarcity by 2050. This study critically re‐evaluates those projections using empirical data and analyzing key developments from 2018 to early 2025. Our findings indicate that the trajectory towards severe water scarcity is accelerating, exceeding previous estimates in both scale and pace. This reassessment examines the evolving influence of critical drivers—population growth, economic development pathways, and escalating water pollution—highlighting the amplified impacts of spatial inequalities, persistent access disparities, shifting consumption patterns, and inadequately controlled pollution sources. Growing geopolitical instability and conflict are exacerbating these trends. The analysis emphasizes regional vulnerabilities and the complex socio‐political factors often obscured by global averages. Addressing this escalating crisis demands urgent, integrated water governance frameworks. These frameworks must effectively manage demographic pressures, regulate unsustainable economic activities, curb pollution, protect critical aquifers, ensure equitable resource allocation, and fundamentally challenge the geopolitical and historical structures that perpetuate inequality. This updated perspective aims to spur targeted and decisive policy interventions to achieve sustainable water management.

… Vulnerability assessments provide a strategy to assess if … The resilience of urban water supplies can be transformed … of their influence on urban water vulnerability through a principal …

… scales, and is difficult to assess. This paper offers a systematic review of 50 water vulnerability assessment tools. We identify and synthesise the contents of these assessment tools (710 …

… climate change, urban water environment faces a terrible vulnerability trend. This … vulnerability of the urban water environment by quantifying the vulnerability indicators of urban water …

… assessment of urban water availability and vulnerability for … the urban assessments account for not only renewable water … in vulnerability assessments may better reflect the reality of …

… of water infrastructure assets in cities life and functionality, assessing their vulnerability and … to spatially analyze the urban water infrastructure assets vulnerability in Ahvaz, Iran, that has …

… (2016) analyzed the relative importance of the weightings in a vulnerability assessment; … “Integrated urban water resources modeling in a semi-arid mountainous region using a cyber-…

… of urban water security. Finally, we reflect on work done in the area of urban water security … systematic review of water vulnerability assessment tools Water Resour. Manage. 26 4327 …

… This paper proposes an approach that focuses on studying the vulnerability of surface DWIs to low water levels and water demand in current and future climates within a cold-climate …

… Water vulnerability assessments were performed for all basins supporting cities with … understanding of urban water vulnerability, and are necessary for urban water managers pursuing …

Although small, rural water supplies may present elevated microbial risks to consumers in some settings, characterizing exposures through representative point-of-consumption sampling is logistically challenging. In order to evaluate the usefulness of consumer self-reported data in predicting measured water quality and risk factors for contamination, we compared matched consumer interview data with point-of-survey, household water quality and pressure data for 910 households served by 14 small water systems in rural Alabama. Participating households completed one survey that included detailed feedback on two key areas of water service conditions: delivery conditions (intermittent service and low water pressure) and general aesthetic characteristics (taste, odor and color), providing five condition values. Microbial water samples were taken at the point-of-use (from kitchen faucets) and as-delivered from the distribution network (from outside flame-sterilized taps, if available), where pressure was also measured. Water samples were analyzed for free and total chlorine, pH, turbidity, and presence of total coliforms and Escherichia coli. Of the 910 households surveyed, 35% of participants reported experiencing low water pressure, 15% reported intermittent service, and almost 20% reported aesthetic problems (taste, odor or color). Consumer-reported low pressure was associated with lower gauge-measured pressure at taps. While total coliforms (TC) were detected in 17% of outside tap samples and 12% of samples from kitchen faucets, no reported water service conditions or aesthetic characteristics were associated with presence of TC. We conclude that consumer-reported data were of limited utility in predicting potential microbial risks associated with small water supplies in this setting, although consumer feedback on low pressure—a risk factor for contamination—may be relatively reliable and therefore useful in future monitoring efforts.

… households value water services by … to water policy design for India’s 400 million urban residents, and are likely also to be of relevance to the effective provision of urban water services …

… Thus, customers assess the quality of service accorded and … assess the urban water service delivery quality gap using the … use to assess the quality of urban water service delivery and …

Conventional water metering has a tendency of being unreliable, inaccurate, and a source of dispute and disquiet among customers, and hence it is considered to be one primary reason why water service providers perform poorly and have very low revenue collection figures. The result of this poor performance spirals into poor management, ineffective maintenance, inaccurate billing and high non-revenue water. This study explored what a prepaid metering project in Nakuru, Kenya achieved, and to see whether or not prepayment can be considered to be an innovative way of addressing these concerns, especially how to provide better service, when providing water to the urban poor. In addition, the study investigated micro financing as tools for supporting efforts by water service providers serving the poor and whether they are an effective way of financing projects. Communal prepaid meters were installed in an existing conventional network and data on commonly used performance evaluation parameters collected through interviews, field visits, and existing literature. The results portrayed prepaid metering with positive improvements to the conventional metering. It was found that there is an opportunity in microfinance for win-win partnerships among financial institutions, water service providers and low-income customers to help them in increasing access to water services. Communal prepaid meters are now bankable and viable options for serving urban poor communities.

… between rural drinking water supply schemes water quality and service sustainability has been … to assess if the quality of drinking water from rural water supply schemes affects the …

Monitoring of water services informs policy and planning for national governments and the international community. Currently, the international monitoring system measures the type of drinking water source that households use. There have been calls for improved monitoring systems over several decades, some advocating use of multiple indicators. We review the literature on water service indicators and frameworks with a view to informing debate on their relevance to national and international monitoring. We describe the evidence concerning the relevance of each identified indicator to public health, economic development and human rights. We analyze the benefits and challenges of using these indicators separately and combined in an index as tools for planning, monitoring, and evaluating water services. We find substantial evidence on the importance of each commonly recommended indicator—service type, safety, quantity, accessibility, reliability or continuity of service, equity, and affordability. Several frameworks have been proposed that give structure to the relationships among individual indicators and some combine multiple indicator scores into a single index but few have been rigorously tested. More research is needed to understand if employing a composite metric of indicators is advantageous and how each indicator might be scored and scaled.

… service delivery represent a serious wake-up call which should trigger spending on service delivery … To explain recovery rehabilitation, there is evidence of quality-control-compliance …

The global community had launched a global target related to access to sustainable safe drinking water sources and had pursued a global monitoring and reporting program on progress made on access to drinking water sources. The universal indicator considered by the global community for this purpose is the proportion of the population with (or without) access to improved drinking water sources. An improved drinking water source is defined as one that is likely to be protected from outside contamination. However, monitoring and reporting progress using this indicator does not reflect the quality of service delivery, in particular the quantity, quality and continuity of drinking water supply. This paper presents the evaluation of the quality of service of the water supply in Lebanon based on additional national-specific indicators that can properly inform the quality of water supply service delivery. A method of evaluation of quality of service index (QSI) is proposed based on a fuzzy inference system. The results of evaluation of the QSI for the four regional water supply authorities in Lebanon for the years 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2014 are then presented and discussed. Finally, the conclusion and further developments are presented.

Continuous, safely managed water is critical to health and development, but rural service delivery faces complex challenges in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We report the first application of continuous quality improvement (CQI) methods to improve the microbial quality of household water for consumption (HWC) and the functionality of water sources in four rural districts of northern Ghana. We further report on the impacts of interventions developed through these methods. A local CQI team was formed and trained in CQI methods. Baseline data were collected and analyzed to identify determinants of service delivery problems and microbial safety. The CQI team randomized communities, developed an improvement package, iteratively piloted it in intervention communities, and used uptake survey data to refine the package. The final improvement package comprised safe water storage containers, refresher training for community WaSH committees and replacement of missing maintenance tools. This package significantly reduced contamination of HWC (p<0.01), and significant reduction in contamination persisted two years after implementation. Repair times in both intervention and control arms decreased relative to baseline (p<0.05), but differences between intervention and control arms were not significant at endline. Further work is needed to build on the gains in household water quality observed in this work, sustain and scale these improvements, and explore applications of CQI to other aspects of water supply and sanitation.

This paper investigates the water service delivery performance of metropolitan municipalities in South Africa between 2022 and 2024. This enables an adequate understanding of the prevailing conditions of water service delivery in the metros and thus forms the basis for service enhancement intervention. Using a conceptual framework that combined principal-agent, equity, and public value theories, this study analyses a combination of secondary quantitative data on water service delivery performance across metropolitan municipalities in South Africa. The data was sourced from various government databases to pursue the study objectives of exploring water access, water quality, and households’ water service satisfaction. The findings revealed a significant disparity in the performance of the metros in water service delivery. While the City of Cape Town and Ekurhuleni demonstrated consistent water service excellence, Buffalo City, Nelson Mandela Bay, and Mangaung struggled with incessant water interruptions and declining water safety. Despite the robust water infrastructure status as reported in WIQI, systemic challenges, such as leaking water pipes and institutional inefficiency, undermine reliable water service delivery among metros in South Africa. This paper thus concludes that for South Africa to effec-tively address the persistent water service delivery challenges confronting it and efficiently achieve SDG 6 by 2030, there is the need for crucial investment in water management technology, establish water service delivery taskforce across metros, invest in wastewater treatment technologies, establish a national water management training institute to regular provide trainings to metro staff. Lastly, inter-metro best practices sharing must be entrenched, while a public database with updated water performance data must be made available to support water research. These recommendations emphasise inter-metro collaboration, techno-logical integration, and policy reforms to address systemic gaps and enhance public satisfaction with water service delivery.

Achieving safe and reliable water services remains a critical challenge in many rapidly urbanizing cities and is central to Sustainable Development Goal 6. In the Philippines, service delivery is constrained by aging infrastructure, fragmented governance, and weak accountability, slowing progress toward universal access. This study examines household perspectives on water services in Legazpi City, one of the fastest-urbanizing cities in the country, drawing on a large-scale household survey. Using Importance–Performance Analysis and thematic coding, it evaluates five service dimensions: water quality, supply reliability, staff performance, customer support, and billing. Results show consistent strengths in staff courtesy and billing accuracy but reveal persistent concerns about water quality and supply reliability, which households view as essential to daily well-being. Thematic evidence highlights discolored water, weak pressure, frequent interruptions, and poor communication. These findings emphasize the need for infrastructure investment, stronger transparency, and institutionalized user feedback to improve service governance.

… water services in laying the groundwork for legitimacy. The analysis underscores the complex, non-linear relationship between service delivery … better quantity or quality than what they …

… quality of infrastructure services. Consequently, the prevalent opinion in the literature after the 1970s seemed to be that it is only rarely arguable to support pure government ownership, …

Public-private partnership has increasingly become a preferred public service delivery approach in the provision of water services in Kenya. As a strategy, PPP in water service provision was started in Kenya following water sector reforms as contained in the Water Act 2002. In order to establish the impact of PPP on water service delivery in Kenya, a household survey of 288 respondents from seven (7) Water Service Providers (WSPs) comprising four Water Utility companies and three Community Water projects, under the Lake Victoria South Water Services Board (LVSWSB) umbrella was conducted. Using quantitative techniques to analyze the data under governance theory, the study established that compared to the period up to 2004, the households experienced better services in the year 2012 in terms of water quality, affordability, access and customer service levels as currently observed compared to the period up to 2004 to the extent that public institutions that had adopted more private sector participation performed better than those that have not. On average, there was reduction in: distance to water point reduced by 78.3 m; frequency of coloured water by 0.2 days, time taken to restore water 3 days within the ten years period.

… of Spanish water utilities and assess quality as unaccounted-for water … and quality-adjusted assessments of performance, even though the actual ranking of relative efficiency of water …

… It could, in fact, result in excessively high water prices for consumers, poor quality services, and/or insufficient local expertise, given their frequent lack of human and financial resources. …

… of water availability with the socio-economic drivers of poverty. It is with this in mind that the Water Poverty Index (… An enhanced Water Poverty Index (eWPI) has been developed and is …

… This paper reviews selected physical water scarcity indicators, and criticisms … water scarcity. To this end, we use a set of relevant socio-economic, demographic and physical indicators …

… However, the diverse nature of water scarcity … Water Poverty Index (WPI) affecting the social and economic status of communities and to propose optimal scenarios for sustainable water …

… of this index today water scarcity is defined as occurring when the annual per capita water … Above this level a country would generally be suffering from little or no water scarcity, while …

… the issue of poverty as it relates to access to water resources. It … at all the indices it will be clear that Malawi is a poor country. … The abundance or scarcity of water usually affects poor …

… of water scarcity and ignoring others socio-economic … index called Water Poverty Index (WPI) has been developed to be a viable way to express the different aspects of water scarcity …

… and socio-economic characteristics and weighted separately according to … water problems and disparities, the Water Poverty Index (WPI) was designed to holistically describe the water …

Combining the measure of water availability and the socio-economic capacity to access it gives new insights in the fields of water resources management and poverty alleviation. This approach lets researchers think about new multidimensional water scarcity indexes that have contributed to the definition of the water poverty index (WPI). The methodology first used for the calculation of this aggregate index was based on an equally weighted average of its five components (resources, capacity, access, use and environment). The main objective of this paper is to improve this procedure by using an objective weighting scheme. For this purpose we use principal component analysis to give more weight to components with larger variance and to discard components with very small ones. This improved WPI is applied in the case of Tunisia. We have obtained relevant results which could help policy makers to devise better policies to alleviate water poverty in the Inland region which was where the Tunisian revolution began.

… affects the development of societies, using the Water Poverty Index (WPI), in the context of Indian states and the UTs. WPI was first conceptualized by Sullivan (Citation2002) and …

… water poverty of a semi-arid district of eastern India using a PCA-based multidimensional domestic water poverty index. … physical water resources but also majorly by the socio-economic …