Affordability of residential water tariffs: Alternative measurement and explanatory factors in southern Spain
Affordability of residential water tariffs: Alternative measurement and explanatory factors in southern Spain
复制标题
DOI：
10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.07.029
复制
发表时间：
2010-12-01
影响因子：
8.7
通讯作者：
Gonzalez-Gomez, Francisco
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Garcia-Valinas, Maria A.;Martinez-Espineira, Roberto;Gonzalez-Gomez, Francisco
利用基于Stone-Geary效用函数的用水需求函数获得的基本或“生命线”生活用水水平的信息，在西班牙南部的一个城市样本中估计了每户每年128米(3)的最低用水门槛。作为第二个目标，然后计算水的负担能力指数，将这种生命线的成本与城市平均收入水平联系起来。对安达卢西亚各市这一比率差异背后因素的分析表明，购买生命线的相对成本似乎与平均收入水平成反比，揭示了影响家庭消费中最不多余部分的水费组成部分的回归因素。主要的政策建议将涉及重新设计水费，以便改善低收入家庭获得足以满足其基本需要的水量的机会。拟议的方法可以适用于发达国家和发展中国家的其他地理区域，以便分析目前有效的水费累进程度，并指导设计更公平的管制政策。(C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd.版权所有。
Using information on a basic or "lifeline" level of domestic water use obtained from a water demand function based on a Stone-Geary utility function, a minimum water threshold of 128 m(3) per household per year was estimated in a sample of municipalities in Southern Spain. As a second objective, water affordability indexes were then calculated that relate the cost of such lifeline to average municipal income levels. The analysis of the factors behind the differences in that ratio across Andalusian municipalities shows that the relative cost of purchasing the lifeline appears inversely related to average income levels, revealing an element of regressivity in the component of water tariffs affecting the least superfluous part of the household's consumption. The main policy recommendation would involve redesigning water tariffs in order to improve access for lower income households to an amount of water sufficient to cover their basic needs. The proposed methodology could be applied to other geographical areas, both from developed and from developing countries, in order to analyze the degree of progressivity of the water tariffs currently in effect and in order to guide the design of more equitable regulatory policies. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.