Heterogeneity, Household Co-Production, and Risks of Water Services — Water Demand of Private Households with Multiple Water Sources

Heinrich Zozmann, Christian Klassert, Bernd Klauer and Erik Gawel
Additional contact information
Heinrich Zozmann: Department of Economics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research — UFZ, Permoser Str. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
Christian Klassert: Department of Economics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research — UFZ, Permoser Str. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
Bernd Klauer: Department of Economics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research — UFZ, Permoser Str. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
Erik Gawel: Department of Economics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research — UFZ, Permoser Str. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany†Faculty of Economics and Business Management, Institute of Infrastructure and Resources Management, Leipzig University, Grimmaische Str. 12, 04109 Leipzig, Germany

Water Economics and Policy (WEP), 2022, vol. 08, issue 01, 1-38

Abstract: Private households around the world use and combine multiple water sources, including diverse forms of market services and self-supply. The reasons for this have so far not been explained in a coherent framework, nor have the implications for water management and policy been sufficiently analyzed. Here, we examine how heterogeneity of water services, household co-production, and risks of provision influence household demand patterns. We apply an economic household production model that incorporates two water quality levels for different household activities to exemplary situations. We derive a number of explanations why households use and combine water services that expand the current state of research. Relevant findings include: (i) The diverse characteristics of available water services result in different time requirements for water procurement and varying degrees of suitability for household activities. (ii) Differences in the value placed on time can induce households to demand heterogeneous water services because these enable them to find a balance between using time and money to access water. (iii) Certain water services may be demanded because they function as insurance against both uncertain and unreliable supply. Our insights are relevant for water policy, in particular for developing and managing demand-responsive systems, and for the implementation and monitoring of normative goals for access to water.

Keywords: Multiple water sources; residential water demand; Sustainable Development Goal 6; right to water; new consumer theory; household allocation of time (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S2382624X22500060
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

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:wsi:wepxxx:v:08:y:2022:i:01:n:s2382624x22500060

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

DOI: 10.1142/S2382624X22500060

Access Statistics for this article

Water Economics and Policy (WEP) is currently edited by Ariel Dinar

More articles in Water Economics and Policy (WEP) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tai Tone Lim ().