Water Losses and Hydrographical Regions Influence on the Cost Structure of the Portuguese Water Industry

Rita Martins, Fernando Coelho () and Adelino Fortunato

No 2008-06, GEMF Working Papers from GEMF, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra

Abstract: There is a consensus that the emphasis on the management of water resources should be put on demand side policies. However, some questions remain to be solved on the supply side, which are frequently absent from empirical studies based on the estimation of cost functions. This paper aims to fill to some extent this gap in the literature by focusing the consequences of water losses reduction and the management of water resources based on their availability at an integrated river basin level. Major findings indicate that it would be better in terms of costs to maintain some level of water losses than to repair the leaks and suggest advantages from more concentration in the Portuguese water industry. In addition, the costs do not seem to be systematically influenced by the hydrographical regions to which water utilities belong, what might be due to the absence of appropriate cost accounting methods.

Keywords: water utilities; water losses; river basins; multi-product cost function (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L11 L95 Q25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2008-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Published in Journal of Productivity Analysis, 38(1): 81-94, 2012.

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Journal Article: Water losses and hydrographical regions influence on the cost structure of the Portuguese water industry (2012)
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