The Third Challenge to Safe Drinking Water: Accessibility and Affordability
Access to safe drinking water depends on more than the existence of freshwater resources. Water must be physically accessible, available when needed, safe for consumption, and affordable for households. A community may have rivers, groundwater, wells, or other water sources nearby, yet still struggle to obtain reliable drinking water because of inadequate infrastructure, distance, economic constraints, or limited treatment capacity. For this reason, accessibility and affordability are central parts of drinking water security.
What Does Access to Safe Drinking Water Mean?
Access to safe drinking water means having a water source that people can physically reach, use when needed, and afford, while also meeting appropriate safety requirements for drinking and domestic use.
The concept of drinking water access has evolved beyond simply measuring whether a household has a water source nearby. Current international monitoring considers whether an improved source is accessible on premises, available when needed, and free from fecal and priority chemical contamination.
This broader definition is important because the presence of a water source does not automatically guarantee safe drinking water.
A household may have access to a well, public tap, borehole, delivered water, or another source, but still face problems if the water is contaminated, intermittently available, too expensive, or located too far away.
The scale of the challenge remains substantial. According to the United Nations, 2.2 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water services in 2024, despite significant progress since 2015. During that period, the proportion of the global population using safely managed drinking water increased from 68% to 74%.
Drinking water access can vary significantly between countries, regions, and communities because water resources, infrastructure, geography, governance, and household economic conditions are unevenly distributed.
The problem is particularly visible in many developing regions, where rural communities may have far less reliable access to formal water services than urban populations.
For example, previous assessments reported that around 77% of urban residents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had access to drinking water, compared with only about 17% of rural residents. In Laos, the situation was different: some rural communities had relatively high access, while coverage in Vientiane was reported at around 60%. This means that improving access requires solutions adapted to local conditions rather than a single global model.
Why Does Household Water Treatment Matter?
Household and point-of-use water treatment can provide a practical option where centralized drinking-water services are unavailable, unreliable, or difficult to extend to individual households.
People may obtain water from wells, boreholes, storage tanks, community water points, delivered water, or other local sources. Depending on the source and its quality, additional treatment may be necessary before consumption.
For microbiological contamination, disinfection can be an important part of household water treatment.
Solid chlorine-based disinfectants can be particularly practical in small-scale applications because they can be stored and transported without moving large quantities of liquid. Correct dosing and appropriate contact time remain essential, and the treatment method must be selected according to the quality of the source water.
SDIC, also known as sodium dichloroisocyanurate or NaDCC, is one example of a chlorine-based disinfectant suitable for certain drinking-water and point-of-use applications. WHO's drinking-water guidance specifically identifies sodium dichloroisocyanurate as an easy-to-use source of free chlorine for drinking-water disinfection, including household point-of-use treatment. TCCA can also be considered for appropriate small-scale water-treatment and disinfection applications where permitted and correctly managed.
For households and small users, the practical advantage of solid disinfectants is not necessarily limited to the chemical cost. Storage, transportation, handling, and dosing requirements can also influence the total cost and convenience of water disinfection.
However, disinfection has an important limitation: it is primarily intended to control microorganisms. If source water contains high turbidity, heavy metals, pesticides, excessive salts, or other chemical contaminants, additional treatment may be required.
Why Does Drinking Water Affordability Matter?
Water affordability directly affects how much water households can obtain and which water sources they choose. When safe water becomes too expensive, low-income households may reduce consumption or switch to cheaper but potentially less safe sources.
The price paid by a household is not always the same as the official tariff charged by a water utility. A household connected to a piped water network may pay a regulated tariff. But families without direct connections may obtain water from:
- Public taps
- Neighbors
- Water vendors
- Tankers or delivered-water services
- Community water points
- Local wells or other sources
The effective cost may therefore include the purchase price as well as transportation, collection, storage, and connection expenses.
This distinction is particularly important when assessing water affordability in underserved communities.
A household that pays a relatively high price for a small quantity of water may spend substantially more per unit than a household connected to a formal water supply system.
How Can High Water Costs Affect Household Health?
High water prices can influence both water source selection and household consumption.
When safe water becomes difficult to afford, families may reduce the amount of water they purchase. They may also turn to alternative sources that are cheaper but have poorer microbiological or chemical quality.
Lower water consumption can affect hygiene practices, including handwashing, cleaning, food preparation, and sanitation. At the same time, using contaminated water can increase exposure to microorganisms and other hazards.
The result can become a cycle:
Limited access → Higher effective water costs → Reduced water use or alternative sources → Greater hygiene and health risks
This is why affordability should not be treated as a secondary economic issue. It is closely connected with public health.
The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 6 specifically calls for universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030, placing affordability alongside safety and accessibility rather than treating it as a separate concern.
Can Small-Scale Solutions Improve Water Affordability?
Not every community can immediately build or expand a centralized drinking-water network. In remote areas, rural settlements, emergency situations, and households relying on local water sources, decentralized treatment can provide another layer of protection.
The goal is not necessarily to replace centralized water infrastructure. Instead, household and small-scale water treatment can help bridge gaps where centralized services are limited or unreliable.
Depending on source-water quality, a household treatment system may combine filtration with disinfection. Where microbial contamination is the primary concern, an appropriately selected chlorine-based disinfectant can provide a relatively simple treatment step.
For products such as SDIC/NaDCC and TCCA, their solid form can also offer practical advantages for transportation and storage compared with handling large volumes of liquid chemicals. The actual economic benefit, however, depends on product dosage, local water conditions, supply costs, and the requirements of the specific application.
Accessibility and Affordability Are Essential to Water Security
Safe drinking water cannot be considered truly accessible if people cannot reach it, obtain enough of it, or afford it.
The challenge extends from the availability of freshwater resources to the infrastructure that moves water, the treatment processes that make it safer, and the economic conditions that determine whether households can use the resulting supply.
For many communities, improving access will require investment in water infrastructure, better water management, more efficient water use, and appropriate treatment technologies. At the household level, practical point-of-use treatment can also play a role where centralized services are unavailable or unreliable.
Ultimately, safe drinking water must be more than technically available. It must be physically accessible, microbiologically and chemically appropriate for its intended use, reliably supplied, and affordable for the people who depend on it. This is what turns a water source into a meaningful drinking-water service.
About Us
Liuhe is a manufacturer of water treatment and disinfection products for B2B applications, supplying SDIC Disinfectant Tablets for Household, TCCA 90 Chlorine Tablets for Disinfection, Cyanuric Acid. With factory-direct production and a focus on consistent quality, stable supply, and practical packaging, we support distributors, engineers, and sourcing teams with solutions for water treatment and disinfection applications. If you are looking for a reliable long-term supply partner, feel free to contact us.