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=== Infrastructure ===
{{Main|Transport in Rwanda|Energy in Rwanda|Water supply and sanitation in Rwanda}}{{Update|part=section|date=March 2023|reason=Sanitation access statistics are from 2006}}[[File:WaterPumpRwanda.jpg|thumb|right|Rural water pump|alt=Photograph depicting one adult and five children filling jerrycans at a rural metal water pump with concrete base, at the bottom of a steep rocky hillside]]
The Rwandan government prioritised funding of water supply development during the 2000s, significantly increasing its share of the national budget.{{sfn|IDA|2009}} This funding, along with donor support, caused a rapid increase in access to safe water; in 2015, 74% of the population had access to safe water,{{sfn|Umutesi|2015}} up from about 55% in 2005;{{sfn|IDA|2009}} the government has committed to increasing this to 100% by 2017.{{sfn|Umutesi|2015}} The country's water infrastructure consists of urban and rural systems that deliver water to the public, mainly through standpipes in rural areas and private connections in urban areas. In areas not served by these systems, hand pumps and managed springs are used.{{sfn|MINECOFIN|2002|pp=25–26}} Despite rainfall exceeding {{convert|750|mm|in}} annually in most of the country,{{sfn|Berry|Lewis|Williams|1990|p=533}} little use is made of [[rainwater harvesting]], and residents are forced to use water very sparingly, relative to usage in other African countries.{{sfn|Umutesi|2015}} Access to [[Water supply and sanitation in Rwanda|sanitation]] remains low; the United Nations estimates that in 2006, 34% of urban and 20% of rural dwellers had access to [[improved sanitation]]
Rwanda's electricity supply was, until the early 2000s, generated almost entirely from [[hydroelectric]] sources; power stations on Lakes [[Lake Burera|Burera]] and [[Lake Ruhondo|Ruhondo]] provided 90% of the country's electricity.{{sfn|World Resources Report|2011|p=3}} A combination of below average rainfall and human activity, including the draining of the [[Rugezi wetlands]] for cultivation and grazing, caused the two lakes' water levels to fall from 1990 onwards; by 2004 levels were reduced by 50%, leading to a sharp drop in output from the power stations.{{sfn|World Resources Report|2011|p=5}} This, coupled with increased demand as the economy grew, precipitated a shortfall in 2004 and widespread [[loadshedding]].{{sfn|World Resources Report|2011|p=5}} As an emergency measure, the government installed [[diesel generator]]s north of Kigali; by 2006 these were providing 56% of the country's electricity, but were very costly.{{sfn|World Resources Report|2011|p=5}} The government enacted a number of measures to alleviate this problem, including rehabilitating the Rugezi wetlands, which supply water to Burera and Ruhondo and investing in a scheme to extract methane gas from Lake Kivu, expected in its first phase to increase the country's power generation by 40%.{{sfn|AfDB|2011}} Only 18% of the population had access to electricity in 2012, though this had risen from 10.8% in 2009.{{sfn|World Bank (XIII)}} The government's Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy for 2013–18 aims to increase access to electricity to 70% of households by 2017.{{sfn|Baringanire|Malik|Banerjee|2014|p=1}}
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