Household’s Perception of Water Quality and Willingness to Pay for Clean Water in Mexico City

Lilia Rodríguez-Tapia,Jorge Morales-Novelo,Daniel Revollo-Fernández

doi:10.3390/economies5020012

Lilia Rodríguez-Tapia, Jorge Morales-Novelo + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/economies5020012

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Abstract

A 2011 survey of Mexico City’s households revealed that families prefer alternative sources of drinking water instead of relying in the city’s quality supply services. These include the purchase of bottled water, installation of filtration devices, and other means of water purification. The demand for better water quality was tested by estimating the household’s willingness to pay (WTP), using a contingency valuation (CV) experiment through an open-format questionnaire and by estimating a censored econometric (Tobit) model. The econometric study revealed that the WTP for better water quality is influenced by variables related with distrust of the water quality provided by the City and the organoleptic characteristics of the water supply, as well as spending on bottled water or water purification technologies. The average WTP surcharge for better potable water quality is US$3.1 or 4.7% of the bimonthly water bill, which is about 0.22% of the average family income in Mexico City. The percentage of WTP to income is bigger in poor families. This suggests that improving water quality is of greater importance for lower income families. Findings are consistent with previous studies that estimated the WTP for improvements in the services that supply water to households in the city. These include reduction of inefficiency and intermittency of the supply along with water quality, improve measuring water meters, reducing the obsolescence of the infrastructure and increasing adequate maintenance. Our research is the first to estimate the WTP for better water quality in Mexico City and constitutes a reference point for those that address the problem of water quality and its impact on the welfare and income of families.

Highlights

Despite steadily increasing supply of drinking water throughout the world, water quality continues to be of concern in many developing countries and, to a lesser extent, in developed nations (UNDP 2006)
The willingness to pay (WTP) per family for better quality of potable water is equivalent to 4.7% of the bimonthly water bill, and to 0.22% of the average family income in Mexico City (US$3.1)
Bottled water is 235 times more expensive than city tap water (US$120 vs. US$0.51 per cubic meter respectively), meaning that low-income families face the greatest difficulties in dealing with such expenses

Summary

Introduction

Despite steadily increasing supply of drinking water throughout the world, water quality continues to be of concern in many developing countries and, to a lesser extent, in developed nations (UNDP 2006). Many urban areas face the unevenness between supply and demand of reliable supply of good quality drinking water (Soto Montes de Oca and Bateman 2006). Economies 2017, 5, 12 of over 8.85 million living in an area of 1495 km , Mexico City is the largest city in Mexico, accounting for 16.5% of the country’s economic activity. It is a core part ofMexico MexicoCity’s. MetropolitanZone, Zone,which which isisconsidered considered the the third third largest largest urban urban area area in in the the world. world. of

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