The Great Lakes offer valuable ecosystem services, including providing drinking water to many of the
region’s inhabitants. The water affordability indicator is one of a suite of drinking water indicators
intended to help regional leaders and advocates understand their water quality, reliability, affordability,
and constituents’ trust in their drinking water, better positioning them to influence management and
policy decisions.

The water affordability indicator captures variation in households’ ability to pay for their water service.
Since safe drinking water is an essential good, it is important to monitor trends in equitable access. This
report explains the indicator in detail.

This research is part of the Great Lakes Indicators project funded by the Erb Family Foundation. The
project is rooted in the understanding that the environmental health of the Great Lakes directly affects
the region’s economic health, individual and societal health and wellbeing, as well as values and
perceptions of the Great Lakes.