Economics of Water

Do you take clean drinking water for granted? I do.

Yet 1.1 billion of our fellow human beings do not have access to an improved water supply, according to the 2006 United Nations Human Development Report.

Looking at our recent home utility bill, I see that we pay $3.08 per 1,000 gallons of water. As far as I know, it's generally good drinking water. Nevertheless, we drink even cleaner water via the filtered water dispenser on the refrigerator door. The grocery store one mile from our home sells 5-gallon bottles of drinking water for $6.99. A local distributor will deliver (presumably with a service contract and equipment rental) for $6.85 per 5-gallon bottle.

The median household income in my suburban county, after income taxes, is somewhere in the vicinity of $200 per day. So a 5-gallon bottle would cost my neighbors about 3.5% of a day's wage.

Outside the city limits of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, a 5-gallon bottle of purified water on the regular market sells for the equivalent of US$1.25. More than half of the households of one of these poor communities live on less than US$2.00 per day, according to a Harvard study. For these people, a 5-gallon bottle of safe drinking water costs them the equivalent of more than 60% of a day's wage for the family, or effectively 17 times what it costs my neighbors.


Thanks to the contribution of a generous donor, the visionary collaboration of two non-profit organizations (Ministerios Benedicion in the D.R., and Missions Door in the U.S.), the work of a group of volunteers who have gone before us and the selfless leadership of local pastor Jose Rodriguez, clean drinking water now flows abundantly and more affordably in Villa Hermosa.


The mission of the Villa Hermosa water project, pictured here upon its completion earlier this year, is:

"To provide safe, clean and affordable drinking water to the underdeveloped community of Villa Hermosa through a self-sustained economic development project that will allow the local church to provide spiritual, physical and social healing."

May we be ever more thankful for the bounty we receive; may we increasingly and joyfully lavish our abundance on others; and may we steadily realize that ultimately, provision comes graciously from our Creator.

Grace and peace...