Water Affordability Measures Under Multiple and Non-Exclusive Sources in Latin America and the Caribbean

Roberto Martinez-Espiñeira and María Pérez Urdiales
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: María Pérez-Urdiales

No 13395, IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank

Abstract: Standard water affordability measures that only account for expenditure on piped water are unlikely to adequately capture the situation of all consumers in developing countries, who often experience water service quality issues and must rely on coping strategies. We construct and compare a series of water affordability ratios including coping costs, and we also adjust these ratios by normative judgements about the need for coping strategies. We use nationally representative household-level data from 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, providing, for the first time, a regional perspective on water affordability. We show that the share of income devoted to water expenses substantially increases when we consider coping costs, particularly affecting the bottom 20% of the income distribution. These findings should be of interest to policy makers aiming at promoting access to safe and affordable water as we also identify the characteristics associated with water affordability issues.

Keywords: water affordability; water quality issues; regulation; Latin America and the Caribbean; water tariff design; water and sanitation tariffs; drinking water quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q21 Q23 Q25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-env and nep-reg
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:idb:brikps:13395

DOI: 10.18235/0005529

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