Clustered patterns of household water consumption in Portuguese municipalities: Do regional location and population trajectory matter?

Ana Paula Barreira and Gonçalo Jacinto

Utilities Policy, 2025, vol. 93, issue C

Abstract: Portugal faces water scarcity challenges, yet studies on per-household water consumption are limited. This study aims to address this gap by employing cluster analyses to assess how population trajectories, a previously overlooked aspect, and the regional location influence per-household monthly water consumption across 122 municipalities. Findings highlight higher consumption in the South despite lower prices. Municipalities experiencing population growth and those with long-term population declines show higher per-household water consumption but lower prices. Interestingly, while higher prices correlate with lower consumption, southern municipalities show increased prices without reduced consumption. Clustering reveals slight changes in consumption patterns from 2011 to 2020.

Keywords: Cluster analysis; Demographic change; Municipal disparities; Sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957178725000025
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:juipol:v:93:y:2025:i:c:s0957178725000025

DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2025.101887

Access Statistics for this article

Utilities Policy is currently edited by Beecher, Janice

More articles in Utilities Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().