Inequalities in access to and consumption of safely managed water due to socio-economic factors: Evidence from Quezon City, Philippines

Abstract

This study aimed to delineate the relationship between the socio-economic status of inhabitants and inequalities in access to water sources in urbanizing areas of developing countries. A total of 146 households in Quezon City, Metro Manila, were interviewed and classified into income quintiles: poor, low-income, middle-income, high-income and rich. The access rate to piped water decreased from 100% for the rich to 66% for the poor. More than 30% of the poor had to purchase water from water vendors due to their lack of access to piped water because of their socio-economic status, including land ownership. Per capita water consumption levels differed significantly across the income quintiles, from 93.4 liters-per-capita-per-day (LPCD) for the poor to 259.4 LPCD for the rich. This coincided with the high Gini coefficients in household income (G = 0.56) and the expenditure for water (G = 0.41). Per capita water consumption was linearly correlated with the logarithm of household income (p < 0.01, R2 = 0.67). Among the poor households, 10% consumed less than 50 LPCD, and 44.8% spent more than 4% of their income on water, with the maximum expenditure of 13.3%. The poor quintile's expenditure on water varied significantly, depending on their sources such as water vendors, piped water, or well water. Finally, 45% of the poor were exposed to contaminated water, compared to 13% of the rich. Our study offers policy implications for providing the urban poor with easier access to safely managed water sources such as piped water.

Keywords

• Household income
• Urban areas
• Water consumption
• Water expenditure
• Water inequality
• Water sources