Residential Water Demand

This detailed study of the use of water at different price levels by residential consumers in the Toronto-centred region from Hamilton to Oshawa challenges the basis of our present urban water supply policy. Adoption of the recommendations presented would mean higher prices to householders, but a considerable saving of hundreds of millions of tax dollars over the next three decades. The present policy uses a 'requirement approach' in which future water needs are calculated by extrapolation of past trends and an assumption that demand is inelastic. This leads to excessive levels of water use and over-investment in water supply, sewage collection, and treatment systems. The resultant misallocation of resources can be corrected by adoption of a demand/management approach in which investment policy is guided by consumer demand and alternative pricing arrangements are used as a management tool. Dr. Grima examines several alternative choices for management, such as metering, increasing marginal prices, sewerage charges, seasonal charges, and an increasing price block schedule, and describes the results of each. Water managers in Canada are strongly challenged to begin a fundamental rethinking of their basic policies. (Department of Geography Research Publication 7)

In the last twenty years the problem of urban public water supples has become increasingly serious. Disparities between the effective supply of, and demand for, water has grown rapidly and now constitute a danger to public health. This study deals with the place of urban public water supplies in economic development and with the demand for such elements of the social infrastructure during the process of economic and social growth. Based on an examination of the existing water-use systems in two urban areas in India, this study provides valuable information in a field that is of growing concern to all the developing countries of the world.

This paper develops an econometric methodology devised to analyze a sample of time unbalanced panel data on residential water consumption in the French island La Reunion with the purpose to bring out the main determinants of household water consumption and estimate the importance of water consumption by uses. For this purpose, we specify a daily panel econometric model and derive, by performing a time aggregation, a general linear regression model accounting for water consumption data recorded on periods of any calendar date and time length. To estimate efficiently the parameters of this model we develop a feasible two step generalized least square method. Using the principle of best linear unbiaised prediction, we finally develop an approach allowing to consistenly break down the volume of water consumption recorded on household water bills by uses, namely by enforcing this estimated decomposition to add up to the observed total. The application of this methodology to a sample of 437 unbalanced panel observations shows the scope of this approach for the empirical analysis of actual data.

This book arose out of a paper that I wrote for the World Bank at the request of Ariel Dinar, the editor for the series in which this volume appears. I began that paper by pointing to the growing importance of demand-side considerations in water resources: "The provision of potable water is one of government's oldest functions with evidence of this activity stretching back thousands of years. During much of that time, water demands were taken as exogenously given and the principle task of authorities was defined as an engineering one: how to supply a given quantity of water at least cost. In recent years, however, concerns have arisen from observations of excessive water use, degraded water quality and continued inadequate service for many, especially the very poor. As a result of these and other concerns, there is a growing effort to view water resource allocation from a perspective that incorporates consumers' preferences along with supply constraints into management plans. " (Renzetti, 2000, p. 123). The purpose of this volume is to examine, in greater detail than was possible in that article, what is known regarding the economic characteristics of the demand for water. Thus, this book is meant to be an extended critical review of the state of the art.

One of four discussion papers in support of a policy report, this paper addresses the question of how the demand for water can be better managed to ensure the conservation and protection of Canada's water. The paper deals with the questions of pricing water at a level which reflects its true worth; expanding the mandates of water agencies to include managing demand; and encouraging more efficient use of water. The paper reviews water-efficient appliances, fixtures, industrial equipment, and agricultural practices; the tools available to governments for managing water demand, including pricing policies, education and information programs, licensing agreements, and minimum standards; and a preliminary water demand management strategy.

Aims to demonstrate why demand-side management is critical to urban water supply planning and to provide methods for incorporation. This book explains how and why urban water demands have changed over time and includes methods for the analysis of urban water demands. It also offers methods for integrating supply side and demand-side planning and management.