Water pricing for sustainability and the poor David Zetland Senior water economist Wageningen University The Netherlands
Covers some or all O & M costs Do not reflect externalities Do not usually recover capital costs Political pressure to keep prices low Operator desire to minimize spending Traditional water pricing...
Will reflect scarcity and system costs People decide to use less or more Rebate excess € per person or meter Full cost pricing is sustainable
Social tariffs are hard to target Failure to provide service (LDCs) Diversion from poor to rich Full cost pricing is fair
Prices that exceed cash costs Regulation for local conditions Social income transfers to the poor Independent of other policies (nexus) One priority: Allow private/public corporate water companies to serve customers without political interference Suggestions
Blog: aguanomics.com Book: endofabundance.com Data: WaterDataHub.org Contact: Thank you! This research project has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/ ) / grant agreement # Project EPI-WATER “Evaluating Economic Policy Instrument for Sustainable Water Management in Europe”