William E. Sharpe, in his October 1978 article in this journal, has presented several methods (policies) for municipal water conservation. Moreover, Mr. Sharpe has expressed his opinion concerning the desirability of each. This was done without reference to a specific objective (what is formally...

In most industrialized countries more than 80% of the population lives in cities or other urban communities. The residents of the urban areas are provided with a variety of water services, including water supply, sewage collection and treatment, and wastewater disposal. The volumes of water...

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the user-pay principle as it applies to the municipal water industry in Canada. The user-pay principle requires that users pay the full economic costs of the goods and services they consume. Equity, efficiency, and water conservation are promoted by the...

This chapter is an appraisal of the major issues in the pricing of municipal water. The topic is ideally suited for a report devoted to a discussion of the potential for financing water resource projects through means of fees and charges, since the provision of municipal water fulfills the two...

Since the Flood Control Act of 1936, academic economists, federal agency staffs, and various special commissions have tried to improve benefit-cost procedures used in evaluation investments for water resource projects. Over the years, guidelines for conduction benefit-cost evaluation have become...

Water resource development and management in the United States have created twelve thousand miles of waterways, irrigated thirty million acres of land (and drained an even larger area), provided water supplies for countless cities and industries, directed tons of concrete and earth at thousands...