Water Supply and Poor Communities: What's Price Got to Do with It?

More than one billion people around the world lack access to clean, reliable sources of water. Actual water shortages may play a role in many cases, but it is often just as likely that lack of the appropriate infrastructure-from treatment facilities to a means to place pipes into individual households-is a leading cause of inadequate water access. If the solution is to improve such infrastructure, who is going to pay for it? This article explores this issue in poor communities in the border region of Texas and applies lessons learned there to the many water-poor communities around the globe.