The Value of Clean Water: Experimental Evidence from Rural India

Fiona Burlig, Amir Jina and Anant Sudarshan

No 33557, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Over 2 billion people lack clean drinking water. Existing solutions face high costs (piped water) or low demand (point-of-use chlorine). Using a 60,000 household cluster-randomized experiment we test an increasingly popular alternative: decentralized treatment and home delivery of clean water to the rural poor. At low prices, take-up exceeds 90 percent, sustained throughout the experiment. High prices reduce take-up but are privately profitable. Self-reported health measures improve. We experimentally recover revealed-preference measures of valuation. Willingness-to-pay is several times higher than prior indirect estimates; willingness-to-accept is larger and exceeds marginal cost. On a cost-per-disability-adjusted-life-year basis, free water delivery regimes appear highly cost-effective.

JEL-codes: O13 Q25 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dcm, nep-env, nep-exp, nep-hea and nep-reg
Note: DEV EEE
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Published as Fiona Burlig & Amir Jina & Anant Sudarshan, 2026. "The Value of Clean Water: Experimental Evidence from Rural India," American Economic Review, vol 116(3), pages 1148-1187.

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