Template-type: ReDif-Paper 1.0 
Author-Name: Tsukada, Rachel
Author-Email: tsukada@merit.unu.edu
Author-workplace-name: UNU-MERIT
Author-Name: Hailu, Degol
Author-Email: hailu@undp.org
Author-workplace-name: United Nations Development Programme
Title: The impact of piped water supply on household welfare  
Abstract: In the absence of piped water from a utility company, households rely on 
	 alternative supply from small-scale private providers. We quantify 
	 losses of wellbeing associated with using small-scale private providers 
	 instead of piped water from the utility company. We measure welfare in 
	 three dimensions: health, wealth (income), and time available for 
	 education, work, or leisure. An empirical application to Burkina Faso 
	 reveals that households' greatest welfare losses are in terms of time 
	 availability. The opportunity cost of collecting water is estimated to 
	 be 23 hours per week, which is comparable to half of a full weekly 
	 working period of an employed person. This loss is often borne by women. 
	 In terms of health and affordability of water, paradoxically, households 
	 using alternative sources of water are slightly better off.
Keywords: piped water, small-scale private provision, welfare loss, synthetic index
Classification-JEL: D13, L95, L33, O15, I18
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 20160830
Number: 2016-046
File-URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2016/wp2016-046.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2016046