Higher Prices, Lower Use

Global Water Intelligence runs an annual survey of international water/wastewater prices.

According to the 2007 survey [XLS], Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), Baghdad, Belfast, and Cork & Dublin provided both for free. At the high end, Stuttgart & Frankfurt, Glasgow, and Aarhus & Copenhagen all charged over $7 per cubic meter (1,000 liters). US prices ranged from a low of $0.58/m³ in Memphis, TN to a high of $3.91 in Richmond, VA.

Prices in the 2008 Report [PDF] are similar (Baghdad raised prices to $0.02/M³, and prices in Denmark rose about $8/m³), but the report also has use data.

Domestic use per capita per day ranges from 114 liters in Denmark, 151 l in Germany, and 139 l in the UK to over 600 l in the US and Australia.

Canadian use is the highest: 778 l/capita/day. I wonder if Ms. Barlow -- now that she is going to be the UN's global water czarina -- understands that the rest of the world, lacking her countries' endowment of water, cannot afford her "free water for all" notions. She's got six honorary PhDs, so I hope so -- for the sake of the poor.

China and India use 95 and 139 l at prices of $0.39 and $0.12/m³, respectively.

The US has the highest "extraction" (m³/head/year) -- 1,730 m³.

Among 14 "developed" countries, the correlation between price and use is -0.62. For you non-statisticians, that means that higher prices are fairly strongly associated with lower use (or vice-versa, for you fans of average-cost pricing).

Note that higher European prices do not only result in lower use and "adequate" infrastructure upkeep -- they also provide surplus funds that are directed to other social spending.

Bottom Line: Higher prices reduce water use.

hattip to an anonymous reader for the awesome data!