Hidden Water Affordability Problems Revealed in Developing Countries

Abstract

Commonly 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 this approach is that it neglects the significant portion of households in these countries that use free water sources. Given that these free sources often are of questionable quality, we provide an alternative approach, whereby hidden affordability for households that use free water sources is revealed by using the average price of purchased water as a proxy for what these households would have to pay for good quality water at the local market. Our calculation shows that the hidden affordability problem is far more important than the revealed affordability problem and that water affordability problems in developing countries have been significantly masked by studies that focus on households paying for water.