The enhancement of women’s well-being through pregnancy, childbirth and following delivery is known as maternal health. However, lack of access to clean drinking water in households leads to a lot of time spent for collection of water by women and girls, resulting in an inability to avail of maternal healthcare services. As evidence on this topic for India is scant, we analyse the relationship between water carriage and continued use of skilled maternal healthcare services, namely antenatal care (ANC), delivery and postnatal care (PNC). Using data on 31,054 women from the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4), 2015–2016, we find that women who have to fetch drinking water for their households are significantly less likely to avail all three services from skilled personnel as compared to their counterparts who have it available on premises or get it delivered to their homes. Hence, providing safe indoor water is critical for the reduction of maternal deaths in India.
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