Linking variation in water democracy to system performance on the human right to water

While scholars regularly associate fragmentation with drinking water disparities, here we consider the potential role of another consequence: variable levels of water democracy. We characterize voter enfranchisement across 2,405 California water systems and evaluate their performance with respect to three tenants of the Human Right to Water: access to safe, affordable, and accessible drinking water. Most systems limit enfranchisement beyond U.S. government election standards. Systems with enfranchisement limited to property owners are more likely to be at risk for unaffordability. Systems with no residential enfranchisement, located in the poorest communities with higher proportions of African Americans, are far more likely to rely on a single water source. The results highlight associations between water democracy and affordable, accessible drinking water with uneven impacts across the population. Understanding the role of governance in shaping inequities is essential for designing eff..., , , # Linking variation in water democracy to system performance on the human right to water

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b932](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b932)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data sources and compilation are documented at [https://github.com/kkdobbin/votingrights_systemperformance](https://github.com/kkdobbin/votingrights_systemperformance)

### Files and variables

#### File: Waterdemocracy_systemperformance_finaldata_dryad_Sept15.csv

**Description:** Full data set analyzed in the Nature Water publication by the same name with demographic variables removed due to Dryad concerns about privacy. See below for information on how to replicate those fields. Below each variable is described and the original source is then provided parenthetically. Links to data sources at the end of the README. Variables without a parenthetical source are derivatives of other variables in the dataset.  All missing data represented as NA.

##### Variables

1. PWSI...,