IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pwat00/0000278.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A review of residential water conservation policies and attempts to measure their effectiveness

Author

Listed:
  • Alexander Maas
  • Roshan Puri
  • Christopher Goemans

Abstract

With escalating global water scarcity and increasing pressures on freshwater resources, demand-side management has emerged as a crucial tool for sustainable water resource management. This paper reviews residential, demand-side water management strategies, focusing primarily on price mechanisms. We trace the evolution of price structures and attempts to estimate consumer responses under these structures, highlighting the methodological and practical difficulties with estimating elasticity under non-linear billing structures. We also include a tertiary review of previous research into non-pecuniary strategies, such as restrictions, and information/education campaigns. This review serves as a primer for policymakers, water managers, and researchers seeking to design and evaluate demand-side management in residential water use.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander Maas & Roshan Puri & Christopher Goemans, 2024. "A review of residential water conservation policies and attempts to measure their effectiveness," PLOS Water, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(8), pages 1-13, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pwat00:0000278
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pwat.0000278
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/water/article?id=10.1371/journal.pwat.0000278
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/water/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pwat.0000278&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pwat.0000278?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Garcia, Serge & Reynaud, Arnaud, 2004. "Estimating the benefits of efficient water pricing in France," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 1-25, March.
    2. Henry S. Foster, Jr. & Bruce R. Beattie, 1981. "On the Specification of Price in Studies of Consumer Demand under Block Price Scheduling," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(4), pages 624-629.
    3. S. Gaudin, 2006. "Effect of price information on residential water demand," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 383-393.
    4. Schleich, Joachim & Hillenbrand, Thomas, 2009. "Determinants of residential water demand in Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1756-1769, April.
    5. R. Bruce Billings & Donald E. Agthe, 1980. "Price Elasticities for Water: A Case of Increasing Block Rates," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(1), pages 73-84.
    6. María Pérez-Urdiales & María García-Valiñas & Roberto Martínez-Espiñeira, 2016. "Responses to Changes in Domestic Water Tariff Structures: A Latent Class Analysis on Household-Level Data from Granada, Spain," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 63(1), pages 167-191, January.
    7. Andrew C. Worthington & Mark Hoffman, 2008. "An Empirical Survey Of Residential Water Demand Modelling," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 842-871, December.
    8. Sylvestre Gaudin & Ronald C. Griffin & Robin C. Sickles, 2001. "Demand Specification for Municipal Water Management: Evaluation of the Stone-Geary Form," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 77(3), pages 399-422.
    9. Mark Hoffmann & Andrew Worthington & Helen Higgs, 2006. "Urban water demand with fixed volumetric charging in a large municipality: the case of Brisbane, Australia ," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 50(3), pages 347-359, September.
    10. Michael L. Nieswiadomy & David J. Molina, 1989. "Comparing Residential Water Demand Estimates under Decreasing and Increasing Block Rates Using Household Data," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 65(3), pages 280-289.
    11. Olmstead, Sheila M. & Michael Hanemann, W. & Stavins, Robert N., 2007. "Water demand under alternative price structures," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 181-198, September.
    12. Nataraj, Shanthi & Hanemann, W. Michael, 2011. "Does marginal price matter? A regression discontinuity approach to estimating water demand," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 198-212, March.
    13. Brent, Daniel A. & Ward, Michael B., 2019. "Price perceptions in water demand," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    14. Matthew Flyr & Jesse Burkhardt & Christopher Goemans & Liesel Hans & Abbye Neel & Alexander Maas, 2019. "Modeling Commercial Demand for Water: Exploring Alternative Prices, Instrumental Variables, and Heterogeneity," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 95(2), pages 211-224.
    15. Julie A. Hewitt & W. Michael Hanemann, 1995. "A Discrete/Continuous Choice Approach to Residential Water Demand under Block Rate Pricing," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 71(2), pages 173-192.
    16. Li, Tongzhe & Roy, Danielle, 2021. "“Choosing not to choose”: Preferences for various uses of recycled water," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    17. Nemati, Mehdi & Penn, Jerrod, 2020. "The impact of information-based interventions on conservation behavior: A meta-analysis," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    18. John A. Nordin, 1976. "A Proposed Modification of Taylor's Demand Analysis: Comment," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 7(2), pages 719-721, Autumn.
    19. Daniel A. Brent & Corey Lott & Michael Taylor & Joseph Cook & Kimberly Rollins & Shawn Stoddard, 2020. "What Causes Heterogeneous Responses to Social Comparison Messages for Water Conservation?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 77(3), pages 503-537, November.
    20. Wang, Xiangrui & Lee, Jukwan & Yan, Jia & Thompson, Gary D., 2018. "Testing the behavior of rationally inattentive consumers in a residential water market," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 344-359.
    21. Zekâi Şen, 2021. "Reservoirs for Water Supply Under Climate Change Impact—A Review," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 35(11), pages 3827-3843, September.
    22. Brandon Moore & André Coleman & Mark Wigmosta & Richard Skaggs & Erik Venteris, 2015. "A High Spatiotemporal Assessment of Consumptive Water Use and Water Scarcity in the Conterminous United States," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(14), pages 5185-5200, November.
    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. María Ángeles García-Valiñas & Sara Suárez-Fernández, 2022. "Are Economic Tools Useful to Manage Residential Water Demand? A Review of Old Issues and Emerging Topics," Post-Print hal-04067487, HAL.
    2. Mónica Maldonado-Devis & Vicent Almenar-Llongo, 2021. "A Panel Data Estimation of Domestic Water Demand with IRT Tariff Structure: The Case of the City of Valencia (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-26, January.
    3. Andrew C. Worthington & Mark Hoffman, 2008. "An Empirical Survey Of Residential Water Demand Modelling," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 842-871, December.
    4. Milan Ščasný & Šarlota Smutná, 2021. "Estimation of price and income elasticity of residential water demand in the Czech Republic over three decades," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 580-608, June.
    5. Tomas Havranek & Zuzana Irsova & Tomas Vlach, 2018. "Measuring the Income Elasticity of Water Demand: The Importance of Publication and Endogeneity Biases," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 94(2), pages 259-283.
    6. Ming-Feng Hung & Bin-Tzong Chie, 2013. "Residential Water Use: Efficiency, Affordability, and Price Elasticity," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(1), pages 275-291, January.
    7. Ming-Feng Hung & Bin-Tzong Chie & Tai-Hsin Huang, 2017. "Residential water demand and water waste in Taiwan," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 19(2), pages 249-268, April.
    8. Dinusha Dharmaratna & Edwyna Harris, 2012. "Estimating Residential Water Demand Using the Stone-Geary Functional Form: The Case of Sri Lanka," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2283-2299, June.
    9. Acuña, Guillermo, 2017. "Elasticidades de la demanda de agua en Chile [Elasticities of water demand in Chile]," MPRA Paper 82916, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Darío F. Jiménez & Sergio A. Orrego & Felipe A. Vásquez & Roberto D. Ponce, 2017. "Estimating water demand for urban residential use using a discrete-continuous model and disaggregated data at the household level: the case of the city of Manizales, Colombia," Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, Departamento de Economía, issue 86, pages 153-178, Enero - J.
    11. Guillermo Ignacio Acuña & Cristián Echeverría & Alex Godoy & Felipe Vásquez, 2020. "The role of climate variability in convergence of residential water consumption across Chilean localities," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 22(1), pages 89-108, January.
    12. Jiménez, Darío F. & Orrego, Sergio A. & Vásquez, Felipe A. & Ponce, Roberto D., 2016. "Estimación de la demanda de agua para uso residencial urbano usando un modelo discreto-continuo y datos desagregados a nivel de hogar: el caso de la ciudad de Manizales, Colombia," Revista Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, CIE, issue 86, pages 153-178, December.
    13. Henrique Monteiro, 2010. "Residential Water Demand in Portugal: checking for efficiency-based justifications for increasing block tariffs," Working Papers Series 1 ercwp0110, ISCTE-IUL, Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL).
    14. Shyama Ratnasiri & Clevo Wilson & Wasantha Athukorala & Maria A. Garcia-Valiñas & Benno Torgler & Robert Gifford, 2018. "Effectiveness of two pricing structures on urban water use and conservation: a quasi-experimental investigation," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 20(3), pages 547-560, July.
    15. Dinusha Dharmaratna & Edwyna Harris, 2010. "Estimating Residential Water Demand using the Stone-Geary Functional Form: the Case of Sri Lanka," Monash Economics Working Papers 46-10, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    16. Havranek, Tomas & Irsova, Zuzana & Vlach, Tomas, 2016. "Publication Bias in Measuring the Income Elasticity of Water Demand," MPRA Paper 75247, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. 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.
    18. Xiaojia Bao, 2016. "Water, Electricity and Weather Variability in Rural Northern China," Working Papers 2014-07-02, Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics (WISE), Xiamen University.
    19. Diakité, Daouda & Thomas, Alban, 2011. "La demande domestique d’eau potable : une étude sur un panel de communes ivoiriennes," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 87(3), pages 269-299, septembre.
    20. Teresa Torregrosa & Martín Sevilla & Borja Montaño & Victoria López-Vico, 2010. "The Integrated Management of Water Resources in Marina Baja (Alicante, Spain). A Simultaneous Equation Model," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(14), pages 3799-3815, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:plo:pwat00:0000278. 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: water (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/water .

    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.