La escasez del agua: un contraste entre el derecho humano al agua y el precio como medida para su conservación

Abstract

Access to drinking water and sanitation is considered a human right as it’s essential for a dignified living. However, climate change, demographic and economic growth affect the availability of the resource. It’s evident that prices have been used as effective mechanisms for its efficient and sustainable management. Nevertheless, pricing policies could be regressive if the characteristics of the population aren’t considered. Residential water demand is estimated and effect of changes in the price on its consumption and on the consumption of other goods is analyzed. It’s found that the residential water demand is inelastic (-0.62), so significant price increases should be considered to reduce the excessive consumption of residential water, evidencing a greater reduction in high-income households, however, there are differences in consumption when considering the distribution of income, area and geographic region, besides, there is evidence of an impact on vulnerable households in their consumption of residential water and other goods. The information provided by the study helps in the design of prices policies aimed at solving the problems derived from scarcity, which take into account the characteristics of the population and thus avoid regressive effects when considering the affordability and other criteria that guarantee the human right to water.