Why are municipal wastewater treatment plants abandoned in Mexico? When a more money policy approach is not enough

• Published in: Water resources and economics 2023-07, Vol.43, p.100226, Article 100226
• Main Authors: Cáñez-Cota, Antonio, Rentería, César
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: infrastructure; issues and policy; Mexico; municipal wastewater; probability; sanitation; survival rate; wastewater treatment; water
• ISSN: 2212-4284; 2212-4284
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wre.2023.100226

The abandonment or closure of wastewater treatment plants is a potential problem in sanitation policies, where municipalities must decide which type of plant should build in their territory. We used an interaction effects model to test the effect of financial self-sufficiency in the operation of Mexican treatment plants in the national sanitation policy periods: the more money policy approach and the more planning policy approach. Our results show that during the more planning policy approach, the wastewater treatment plants' effectiveness increases more than the more money policy approach period, which is more vital in plants with low operating costs. Municipal financial self-sufficiency positively affects wastewater treatment plants' effectiveness more substantially in plants with high operating costs. Policy implications of these findings aim to be careful with the more money policy approach to developing wastewater infrastructure since municipalities require proper planning for the particular conditions of each site. The Mexican case shows how combining municipal financial insufficiency and centralization of planning in the national government, as is common in the countries of the Global South, affects the probability of plant survivorship. Furthermore, the effect of this combination grows when national governments increase their budgets to invest. •Municipal financial self-sufficiency positively affects wastewater treatment plants' effectiveness—a more substantial effect in plants with high operating costs.•Compared with the more money policy approach, the more planning policy approach increases the probability of the effectiveness of wastewater treatment plants.•The effect of municipal financial self-sufficiency on wastewater treatment plants' effectiveness is more robust in the more planning policy approach than the more money policy approach, especially in plants with low operating costs.