IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/arp/ijefrr/2021p132-142.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Implications of Water Tariff Structures on Water Demand in Santa Cruz Island (Galapagos Archipelago)

Author

Listed:
  • Maria F. Reyes

    (Environmental Engineering and Water Technology Department, IHE Delft (Institute for Water Education), Netherlands)

Abstract

The island of Santa Cruz, located in the Galápagos Archipelago has experienced a significant increase in tourism with consequent growth of the local population over the past two decades. The rapid increase in the number of hotels and restaurants raised pressure on the water demand needed to satisfy the customers’ needs. The municipality of Santa Cruz has not been capable of coping with current expansion rates in order to provide good quality water services. Financial constraints, limited personnel, and tariff structures are the main reasons that restrict the capacity of the Department of Potable Water and Sanitation (DPWS) to manage the water supply system. There are two main settlements on the island are Puerto Ayora and its suburb, Bellavista, with a total population of approximately 14,500 and independent water supply systems. Puerto Ayora has a fixed-priced tariff per month, for categories established by the municipality. On the other hand, Bellavista has a metered system, with fixed consumer costs Yet, approximately 32% of water meters are faulty. Consequently, water demand in these two settlements varies significantly, which is likely influenced by the difference in tariff structures. This manuscript assesses the difference in tariffs between the two settlements. Furthermore, the impacts on revenues due to faulty meters (Bellavista) and fixed tariffs (Puerto Ayora) are quantified. In addition, several scenarios have been developed and analyzed in order to examine the benefits. Finally, the information regarding overdue bills and willingness to pay by the different categories of users has been examined. Results show that the revenues from water supply vary extensively between the two settlements. Due to the fixed tariffs in Puerto Ayora, the estimated cost per cubic meter of water varies depending on the specific category and estimated quantities of water used. In the case of Bellavista, water meters should be managed better and have regular maintenance. The high percentage of faulty meters gives an extra deficit to the municipality.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria F. Reyes, 2021. "Implications of Water Tariff Structures on Water Demand in Santa Cruz Island (Galapagos Archipelago)," International Journal of Economics and Financial Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 7(3), pages 132-142, 09-2021.
  • Handle: RePEc:arp:ijefrr:2021:p:132-142
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.arpgweb.com/pdf-files/ijefr7(3)132-142.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.arpgweb.com/journal/5/archive/09-2021/3/7
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Banerjee, Sudeshna & Foster, Vivien & Ying, Yvonne & Skilling, Heather & Wodon, Quentin, 2010. "Cost recovery, equity, and efficiency in water tariffs : evidence from African utilities," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5384, The World Bank.
    2. John J. Boland & Dale Whittington, 1998. "The Political Economy of Increasing Block Tariffs for Water in Developing Countries," EEPSEA Special and Technical Paper sp199801t3, Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), revised Jan 1998.
    3. David Zetland & Christopher Gasson, 2013. "A global survey of urban water tariffs: are they sustainable, efficient and fair?," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 327-342, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. He, Xiaoping & Reiner, David, 2016. "Electricity demand and basic needs: Empirical evidence from China's households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 212-221.
    2. Maryati, Sri & Firman, Tommy & Humaira, An Nisaa Siti, 2022. "A sustainability assessment of decentralized water supply systems in Bandung City, Indonesia," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    3. Liang Lu & David Deller & Morten Hviid, 2019. "Price and Behavioural Signals to Encourage Household Water Conservation: Implications for the UK," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 33(2), pages 475-491, January.
    4. Pushak, Nataliya & Briceno-Garmendia, Cecilia M., 2011. "Zimbabwe's infrastructure : a continental perspective," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5816, The World Bank.
    5. Jimenez-Redal, Ruben & Parker, Alison & Jeffrey, Paul, 2014. "Factors influencing the uptake of household water connections in peri-urban Maputo, Mozambique," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 22-27.
    6. Dominguez-Torres, Carolina & Foster, Vivien, 2011. "The Central African Republic's infrastructure : a continental perspective," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5697, The World Bank.
    7. Antonio Estache & Caroline Philippe, 2012. "The Impact of Private Participation in Infrastructure in Developing Countries: Taking Stock of about 20 Years of Experience," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2012-043, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    8. Sudeshna Banerjee & Heather Skilling & Vivien Foster & Cecilia Briceno-Garmendia & Elvira Morella & Tarik Chfadi, 2008. "Africa - Ebbing Water, Surging Deficits : Urban Water Supply in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Bank Publications - Reports 7835, The World Bank Group.
    9. Whittington, Dale & Nauges, Céline & Fuente, David & Wu, Xun, 2015. "A diagnostic tool for estimating the incidence of subsidies delivered by water utilities in low- and medium-income countries, with illustrative simulations," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 70-81.
    10. Li, Lanlan & Luo, Xuan & Zhou, Kaile & Xu, Tingting, 2018. "Evaluation of increasing block pricing for households' natural gas: A case study of Beijing, China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 162-172.
    11. Djiby Racine Thiam & Ariel Dinar & Hebert Ntuli, 2021. "Promotion of residential water conservation measures in South Africa: the role of water-saving equipment," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 23(1), pages 173-210, January.
    12. World Bank, 2012. "Central African Republic Public Expenditure Review : Creating Fiscal Space to Transition Out of Fragility Through Growth and Poverty Reduction," World Bank Publications - Reports 13239, The World Bank Group.
    13. Norbert Brunner & Vijay Mishra & Ponnusamy Sakthivel & Markus Starkl & Christof Tschohl, 2015. "The Human Right to Water in Law and Implementation," Laws, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-59, August.
    14. Lejla H Pihljak & Maria Rusca & Cecilia Alda-Vidal & Klaas Schwartz, 2021. "Everyday practices in the production of uneven water pricing regimes in Lilongwe, Malawi," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 39(2), pages 300-317, March.
    15. Pérez-Urdiales, María & Baerenklau, Kenneth A., 2019. "Learning to live within your (water) budget: Evidence from allocation-based rates," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 205-221.
    16. Gong, Chengzhu & Yu, Shiwei & Zhu, Kejun & Hailu, Atakelty, 2016. "Evaluating the influence of increasing block tariffs in residential gas sector using agent-based computational economics," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 334-347.
    17. Neil S. Grigg, 2016. "The business of water in a changing world: organizations, connectors and support sector," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(5), pages 708-720, September.
    18. Romano, Giulia & Molinos-Senante, María & Guerrini, Andrea, 2017. "Water utility efficiency assessment in Italy by accounting for service quality: An empirical investigation," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 97-108.
    19. Marcos García-López & Joaquín Melgarejo & Borja Montano, 2021. "The Financing of Wastewater Treatment and the Balance of Payments for Water Services: Evidence from Municipalities in the Region of Valencia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-15, May.
    20. Pinto, Francisco Silva & Marques, Rui Cuhna, 2015. "Tariff recommendations: A Panacea for the Portuguese water sector?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 36-44.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arp:ijefrr:2021:p:132-142. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Managing Editor (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.arpgweb.com/?ic=journal&journal=5&info=aims .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.