Measuring Water Affordability: A Proposal for Urban Centres in Developed Countries

García-Valiñas, María Á.; Martı́nez-Espiñeira, Roberto; González‐Gómez, Francisco

doi:10.1080/07900627.2010.491971

Cited by 44 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…However, many poor families around the world are still unable to pay the water and sanitation bills that represent a significant proportion of their low income. That is, water affordability is an important issue in both developed and developing countries (Garcia-Valiñas et al, 2010b).…”

Section: Affordability and Social Equitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Water affordability and social equity in Tunisian governorates: a distributive approach

Sebri

2014

Water Policy

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Water as a basic human right must be guaranteed to everyone, at least at a minimum level, to cover drinking, sanitation and hygiene needs. Using a database for the Tunisian governorates, this paper aims to fulfil two main objectives. First, the amount of water needed to cover basic household requirements is investigated based on the Stone-Geary utility function. Second, the costs associated with the minimum consumption are then utilized to examine the affordability and equity of water tariff based on: (i) affordability indexes; and (ii) concentration curves and inequality measurement indexes. Empirical evidence suggests that, at the national level, the minimum consumption is estimated at 102 m 3 per household per year. Regarding the affordability analysis, water services seem to be affordable in Tunisia, since the minimum water charges represent a very small proportion of household income. Results also reveal that the distribution of water charges is not proportional to the distribution of household income. Consequently, the small weight of the water charges on household income allows a margin to increase water prices, whilst the water authority also has to consider some intergovernorate disparities in any adjustment of water tariffs.

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Section: Affordability and Social Equitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Water affordability and social equity in Tunisian governorates: a distributive approach

Sebri

2014

Water Policy

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“…Gawel et al (2013) compared different approaches to measure affordability. In a European context García-Valiñas et al (2010) investigated affordability with aggregated data in Spain, while Gialis et al (2012) assessed the impacts of water privatization in Greece in relation to the market-environmentalist trends. Furthermore, water pricing in Europe is summarized in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report from 1999 (Herrington, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The transformative effect of the introduction of water volumetric billing in a disadvantaged housing area in Sweden

Mangold¹,

Morrison²,

Harder³

et al. 2014

Water Policy

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Domestic water payment schemes are often a product of their time, place and what is perceived to be customary. Aspects that payment schemes can take into account include resource conservation, equity, maintainability, and profitability. In contemporary Sweden profitable environmentally sustainable solutions are promoted, such as the introduction of volumetric billing of water in rental apartments. This paper describes the detailed consequences of this change in the payment structure for domestic water in terms of reduced resource consumption, direct impact on household economies and perceptions of the system's change process. By combining high-resolution quantitative data on water usage and socio-economic household characteristics with qualitative data from semistandardized interviews with residents, it is possible to identify the different impacts of the system's change and how the process was experienced. It was shown that while water usage decreased by 30%, 63% of the households had increased monthly costs, and unemployed residents were further disadvantaged and closer to social exclusion. Focusing on making environmental sustainability profitable, as posited in ecological modernization theory, may shadow negative impacts on social sustainability.

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“…Having described the model we can now consider two prominent alternatives to the CAR: The 'Potential Affordability Approach' (PAA) (see Lerman/Reeder 1987;Thalmann 1999;Foster/Yepes 2006;Miniaci et al 2008;Kessides et al 2009;García-Valiñas et al 2010a, 2010b driven by the insight that households may underconsume water and be indicated as having no problem (3b and 4b) and conversely may overconsume water and be indicated as having a problem (area 1a and 2a). Thus instead of the factual expenses there are used potential expenses for the index good, e.g.…”

Section: (3) Underconsumption Due To Both a Deficiency Of Willingnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover Miniaci et al (2008) have provided a study in a similar manner for utility services, for water inter alia in Italy. García-Valiñas et al (2010b) have also compared two different affordability measures for water consumption in Southern Spain but did not connect their framework to the theoretical progress achieved in housing economics. Hence, for developing countries where problems of water affordability are by far more existential such a comparative analysis is still lacking so far.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Affordability of water supply in Mongolia: empirical lessons for measuring affordability

2012

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Affordability of water services is a pressing water policy issue for both the developed and, in particular, for the developing world. Despite its well-known theoretical shortcomings, affordability analysis of water supply has, up to now, been widely based on the ratio of a household's water expenditure to its income, the Conventional Affordability Ratio (CAR). However, in the housing sector, alternative concepts for measuring affordability have been developed, among them being the ‘Potential Affordability Approach’ (PAA) and the ‘Residual Income Approach’ (RIA). Against this background, this paper compares these three prominent affordability measures (CAR, PAA, RIA) on the basis of an empirical case study of a peri-urban, low-income area in the second largest Mongolian city of Darkhan, using household data from a survey conducted in 2009. Thus we gain insight into both the water-related affordability situation of people in Mongolia, checking the World Bank's finding of an absence of water affordability problems in peri-urban areas in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar, as well as into the comparative functionality of different affordability measures. It is shown that affordability problems do occur but have to be distinguished depending on the economic causation. We argue that none of the regarded measures give a satisfyingly contoured notion of affordability properly distinguished from the adjacent problems of poverty and access.

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Measuring Water Affordability: A Proposal for Urban Centres in Developed Countries

Cited by 44 publications

References 18 publications

Water affordability and social equity in Tunisian governorates: a distributive approach

Water affordability and social equity in Tunisian governorates: a distributive approach

The transformative effect of the introduction of water volumetric billing in a disadvantaged housing area in Sweden

Affordability of water supply in Mongolia: empirical lessons for measuring affordability

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