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Abstract Subjective well-being is a metric for assessing the effectiveness of public policy. However, the relationship between depression, an important indicator of subjective well-being, and access to clean water (ACW) has received scant attention. This study investigates the effect of ACW on depression using the 2014–2018 waves of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). Using ordinary least squares (OLS) two-way fixed effects (FE) estimation, the results indicate that ACW leads to lower levels of depression. The ACW–depression relationship is mediated by individual self-reported health and household food expenditure, but the mechanism varies across subsamples, as determined by structural equation modelling of the underlying mechanisms. The results of the heterogeneity analysis demonstrated that the total effect of the absence of ACW on depression is mitigated when rural migrants reside in cities, and that the effect disappears entirely when the migrant has an urban hukou. These findings demonstrate the negative impact of urban–rural disparities and hukou issues on mental health.
Hongxu Shi (Sat,) studied this question.