The impact of tap connection on water use: the case of household water consumption in Dakar, Senegal

Abstract

ABSTRACTPredicting residential water demand for non-connected households that obtain connections is a crucial issue for water planners in developing countries. We propose a technique derived from Heckman (1976) to accurately measure the expected increase in water use due to access to tap water while controlling for differences in characteristics between connected and non-connected households. Illustration is made on a cross section of 246 households from Dakar, Senegal. We show that getting a tap connection induces an expected increase in water use of 26 L per capita per day.