Water Pricing: An Outsider's Perspective

Abstract

In most countries, water policies and/or strategies endorse the application of the principle of water as an economic good. For Latin America, the current trends indicate that the application of economic instruments and the involvement of the private sector in the provision of water and sanitation services are being encouraged, while the public sector is generally perceived to be unable to provide water supply services in an efficient manner. It is argued that while water must be valued, and charges must be levied for its use, from a practical viewpoint, the questions that must be answered are who charges whom, for what, how, and by how much?

Notes

International Conference on Water and the Environment: Development Issues for the 21st Century, 26–31 January, Dublin, Ireland.

Throughout this paper the Inter-American Development Bank will be referred to as the IDB or the Bank.

Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.