The Economics of Water Demands

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Steven Renzetti

      Pages 1-6

   2. The State of Water Use

      • Steven Renzetti

      Pages 7-15

3. Water Demands

   1. Residential Water Demands

      • Steven Renzetti

      Pages 17-34

   2. Commercial and Industrial Water Demands

      • Steven Renzetti

      Pages 35-49

   3. Agricultural Water Demands

      • Steven Renzetti

      Pages 51-66

   4. The Demand for Sewage Disposal and Waste Assimilation

      • Steven Renzetti

      Pages 67-80

   5. Water Demands in Low-Income Countries

      • Steven Renzetti

      Pages 81-89

4. The Value of Water Use

   1. Value of Water in Extractive Uses

      • Steven Renzetti

      Pages 91-111

   2. Value of Water in Non-Extractive Uses

      • Steven Renzetti

      Pages 113-130

5. Water Demand Management

   1. Water Demand Management

      • Steven Renzetti

      Pages 131-144

   2. Water Demand Forecasting

      • Steven Renzetti

      Pages 145-156

6. Conclusions

   1. Conclusions

      • Steven Renzetti

      Pages 157-161

7. Back Matter

   Pages 163-194

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This book arose out of a paper that I wrote for the World Bank at the request of Ariel Dinar, the editor for the series in which this volume appears. I began that paper by pointing to the growing importance of demand-side considerations in water resources: "The provision of potable water is one of government's oldest functions with evidence of this activity stretching back thousands of years. During much of that time, water demands were taken as exogenously given and the principle task of authorities was defined as an engineering one: how to supply a given quantity of water at least cost. In recent years, however, concerns have arisen from observations of excessive water use, degraded water quality and continued inadequate service for many, especially the very poor. As a result of these and other concerns, there is a growing effort to view water resource allocation from a perspective that incorporates consumers' preferences along with supply constraints into management plans. " (Renzetti, 2000, p. 123). The purpose of this volume is to examine, in greater detail than was possible in that article, what is known regarding the economic characteristics of the demand for water. Thus, this book is meant to be an extended critical review of the state of the art.

• Water Resources
• agriculture
• development
• hydrogeology
• ecotoxicology

• Brock University, Canada

  Steven Renzetti

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