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Using economic instruments for water resources management in the city of the future: case studies from Spain and Uganda

Rapid increase in global population coupled with escalating climate change has led to a serious water scarcity in the world. The pressure on the water resources is higher in urban areas, where, according to UN Habitat, over 50% of the world’s population have lived since 2007. Hence, urban water mana...

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Main Authors: Sam Kayaga, Ian Smout
Format: Default Conference proceeding
Published: 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2134/8540
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author Sam Kayaga
Ian Smout
author_facet Sam Kayaga
Ian Smout
author_sort Sam Kayaga (1248192)
collection Figshare
description Rapid increase in global population coupled with escalating climate change has led to a serious water scarcity in the world. The pressure on the water resources is higher in urban areas, where, according to UN Habitat, over 50% of the world’s population have lived since 2007. Hence, urban water managers and policy makers need to adopt water efficiency measures to cope with the increasing water demand and manage available water resources in a sustainable manner. This paper reports on findings of water demand management studies conducted under the EU-funded SWITCH research project on ‘sustainable water management for the city of the future’. Using the case of Zaragoza City (Spain), the paper shows how a tariff structure and other economic instruments have been used to encourage water use efficiency at the endusers’ premises, resulting into a 14% reduction in the city’s water demand between 1996 and 2004, although the population increased by 6.3% in the same period. The study also used 2006/07 billing data from the Uganda’s main urban utility to model a water conserving tariff for domestic consumers in Kampala City. Results from the model show that using a demandresponsive tariff structure, 15% of water produced in Kampala could be conserved, and the utility’s revenue increased by 8%. Water conservation tariffs will have greater social equity benefits in cities of developing countries where water services may be under-priced, intermittent and unfairly distributed in favour of higher income households. Water conserved could be redistributed to the poorer settlements of the cities.
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spelling rr-article-94322692011-01-01T00:00:00Z Using economic instruments for water resources management in the city of the future: case studies from Spain and Uganda Sam Kayaga (1248192) Ian Smout (1247745) Integrated urban water resources management Demand management Economic instruments Tariffs Modelling Rapid increase in global population coupled with escalating climate change has led to a serious water scarcity in the world. The pressure on the water resources is higher in urban areas, where, according to UN Habitat, over 50% of the world’s population have lived since 2007. Hence, urban water managers and policy makers need to adopt water efficiency measures to cope with the increasing water demand and manage available water resources in a sustainable manner. This paper reports on findings of water demand management studies conducted under the EU-funded SWITCH research project on ‘sustainable water management for the city of the future’. Using the case of Zaragoza City (Spain), the paper shows how a tariff structure and other economic instruments have been used to encourage water use efficiency at the endusers’ premises, resulting into a 14% reduction in the city’s water demand between 1996 and 2004, although the population increased by 6.3% in the same period. The study also used 2006/07 billing data from the Uganda’s main urban utility to model a water conserving tariff for domestic consumers in Kampala City. Results from the model show that using a demandresponsive tariff structure, 15% of water produced in Kampala could be conserved, and the utility’s revenue increased by 8%. Water conservation tariffs will have greater social equity benefits in cities of developing countries where water services may be under-priced, intermittent and unfairly distributed in favour of higher income households. Water conserved could be redistributed to the poorer settlements of the cities. 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z Text Conference contribution 2134/8540 https://figshare.com/articles/conference_contribution/Using_economic_instruments_for_water_resources_management_in_the_city_of_the_future_case_studies_from_Spain_and_Uganda/9432269 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
spellingShingle Integrated urban water resources management
Demand management
Economic instruments
Tariffs
Modelling
Sam Kayaga
Ian Smout
Using economic instruments for water resources management in the city of the future: case studies from Spain and Uganda
title Using economic instruments for water resources management in the city of the future: case studies from Spain and Uganda
title_full Using economic instruments for water resources management in the city of the future: case studies from Spain and Uganda
title_fullStr Using economic instruments for water resources management in the city of the future: case studies from Spain and Uganda
title_full_unstemmed Using economic instruments for water resources management in the city of the future: case studies from Spain and Uganda
title_short Using economic instruments for water resources management in the city of the future: case studies from Spain and Uganda
title_sort using economic instruments for water resources management in the city of the future: case studies from spain and uganda
topic Integrated urban water resources management
Demand management
Economic instruments
Tariffs
Modelling
url https://hdl.handle.net/2134/8540