Rural communities throughout sub-Sahara Africa are hampered by unequal access to water resources, economic markets, and transportation. Further, development programs do not always provide uniform access to water supply, especially in water scarce regions. With a growing concern over the limited supply of ecosystem services, the need to understand how the complex realities of water use is affected by socio-cultural factors—including household tenure, size, income, and resource management practices—is urgent. This study uses qualitative (e.g., group discussions, village community mapping, key-informant interviews) data to inform quantitative models that test for spatial relationships among factors governing rural livelihoods among water sources across a village in Northern Tanzania. Models identified the social, environmental, and economic factors that affect a households’: 1) ability to meet the UN's minimum per capita threshold for water use; and 2) total domestic water use. These results reinforce the importance of family size, access to transportation, and water governance strategies affecting rural water use. The integration of traditional resource management with regional governance policies improved water use and protected water supplies. Investments in water infrastructure need to consider how additional supplies affect access to and management of resources across water scarce landscapes.

撒哈拉以南非洲的农村社区因水资源、经济市场和交通的不平等获取而受到阻碍。此外，发展计划并不总是提供统一的供水，特别是在缺水地区。随着对生态系统服务供应有限的日益关注，迫切需要了解社会文化因素（包括家庭保有权、规模、收入和资源管理实践）如何影响水资源利用的复杂现实。本研究使用定性（例如，小组讨论、村庄社区制图、关键知情人访谈）数据为定量模型提供信息，这些模型测试管理坦桑尼亚北部村庄水源中农村生计因素之间的空间关系。模型确定了社会、环境、影响家庭的经济因素： 1) 满足联合国最低人均用水阈值的能力；2) 生活用水总量。这些结果强调了影响农村用水的家庭规模、交通便利和水治理策略的重要性。传统资源管理与区域治理政策的整合改善了水资源的利用并保护了供水。对水资源基础设施的投资需要考虑额外的供应如何影响水资源短缺景观中资源的获取和管理。传统资源管理与区域治理政策的整合改善了水资源的利用并保护了供水。对水资源基础设施的投资需要考虑额外的供应如何影响水资源短缺景观中资源的获取和管理。传统资源管理与区域治理政策的整合改善了水资源的利用并保护了供水。对水资源基础设施的投资需要考虑额外的供应如何影响水资源短缺景观中资源的获取和管理。