The effect of water quality testing on household behavior: evidence from an experiment in rural India.
How does specific information about contamination in a household's drinking water affect water handling behavior? We randomly split a sample of households in rural Andhra Pradesh, India. The treatment group observed a contamination test of the drinking water in their own household storage vessel; while they were waiting for their results, they were also provided with a list of actions that they could take to remedy contamination if they tested positive. The control group received no test or guidance. The drinking water of nearly 90% of tested households showed evidence of contamination by fecal bacteria. They reacted by purchasing more of their water from commercial sources but not by making more time-intensive adjustments. Providing salient evidence of risk increases demand for commercial clean water.
Duke Scholars
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Related Subject Headings
- Water Supply
- Water Microbiology
- Tropical Medicine
- Rural Population
- India
- Family Characteristics
- 42 Health sciences
- 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
- 11 Medical and Health Sciences
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Water Supply
- Water Microbiology
- Tropical Medicine
- Rural Population
- India
- Family Characteristics
- 42 Health sciences
- 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
- 11 Medical and Health Sciences