Inconstance de la distribution d'eau dans les villes du tiers monde : le cas de Delhi

Abstract

research into infrastructure quality. It aims at understanding the reality of water supply for households with piped water supply, at assessing the consequences of unreliability on household behaviour and at measuring the costs of water supply unreliability. The study was carried out in Delhi. First, the findings present the significance of individual household strategies and what they cost; on the average, private expenditure incurred by households is six times higher than the amount paid to the town. For Delhi, the costs of the unreliability of water supply are estimated at about 3 billion Rs., that is, more than twice the amount of expenditure for water supply in the Delhi Water Supply and Sewage Disposal Undertaking annual budget. Finally, the analysis of water consumption suggests that the level of water supply unreliability has no influence on household water consumption. Therefore, water supply unreliability cannot regulate consumption in a city where the price of water is low and not progressive enough to play this role. This study shows, finally, that the analysis of the social costs of deficient infrastructure for society is a major step towards a better definition of urban policies.