The Impacts of "Land of Love, Water Cellar for Mothers" in Western China

In this study, we estimate the impacts of the “Land of Love, Water Cellar for Mothers” project that was launched to address comparatively serious water scarcity in western China. In these areas, male labourers flock to cities as a result of China's social transformation, leaving women as the main workforce in the poverty- and droughtstricken countryside of the region. We conducted two waves of a household survey: one prior to installation of a water storage facility referred to as a “water cellar” and a second wave after installation. In this paper, we first present theory of how the effects of the water cellar project are transmitted and then we empirically estimate the impact of project. We show that the water cellar project increases household incomes by an average of 4.6%. The water cellar project also significantly increases women’s on- and off-farm labour supply. The water cellar project is not shown to lead to a statistically significant impact in children’s school attendance or household health conditions.