Urban Water Disinfection and Mortality Decline in Developing Countries

Sonia Bhalotra, Alberto Diaz-Cayeros, Grant Miller, Alfonso Miranda and Atheendar Venkataramani

No 23239, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Historically, improvements in municipal water quality reduced mortality substantially in wealthy countries. However, water disinfection has not produced equivalent benefits in developing countries today. We investigate this puzzle by analyzing a large-scale municipal water disinfection program in Mexico that increased water chlorination coverage from 55% to 90% within 18 months. On average, the program reduced childhood diarrheal disease mortality rates by 50%. However, age (degradation) of water pipes and inadequate sanitation infrastructure attenuated these benefits substantially, ranging from no decline in cities with the worst infrastructure to 80% in those with the best – a decline consistent with historical experience.

JEL-codes: H41 I18 J11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Urban Water Disinfection and Mortality Decline in Developing Countries (2017)
Working Paper: Urban water disinfection and mortality decline in developing countries (2017)
Working Paper: Urban Water Disinfection and Mortality Decline in Developing Countries (2017)
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