LAUSR

The Millennium Development Goal for water sought to halve the number of people without access to an improved source of water. The world officially achieved this goal in 2010, but a significant body of literature critiques the definition and measurement of access. This paper provides an overview of this criticism and uses data from Dar es Salaam to show that poor quality, fluid price structures, unreliable supplies, and burdensome collection all limit water access even though they are not considered in official measurements. This paper argues for a meaningful definition of access is required to generate real development and poverty reduction.