Your search found 5 records
1 Gurung, Y.; Zhao, J.; Bal Kumar, K. C.; Wu, X.; Suwal, B.; Whittington, D. 2017. The costs of delay in infrastructure investments: a comparison of 2001 and 2014 household water supply coping costs in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Water Resources Research, 53(8):7078-7102. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR019529]
Households ; Water supply ; Infrastructure ; Wells ; Private ownership ; Pumping ; Wastewater treatment ; Water storage ; Rainwater ; Water harvesting ; Financing ; Investment ; Estimated costs ; Models ; Strategies ; Regression analysis ; Socioeconomic environment / Nepal / Kathmandu Valley
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048323)
(1.70 MB)
In 2001, we conducted a survey of 1500 randomly sampled households in Kathmandu to determine the costs people were incurring to cope with Kathmandu’s poor quality, unreliable piped water supply system. From 2001 until 2014, there was little additional public investment in the municipal water supply system. In the summer of 2014, we attempted to reinterview all 1500 households in our 2001 sample to determine how they had managed to deal with the growing water shortage and the deteriorating condition of the piped water infrastructure in Kathmandu and to compare their coping costs in 2014 with those we first estimated in 2001. Average household coping costs more than doubled in real terms over the period from 2001 to 2014, from US$5 to US$12 per month (measured in 2014 prices). The composition of household coping costs changed from 2001 to 2014, as households responded to the deteriorating condition of the piped water infrastructure by drilling more private wells, purchasing water from both tanker truck and bottled water vendors, and installing more storage tanks. These investments and expenditures resulted in a decline in the time households spend collecting water from outside the home. Our analysis suggests that the significant increase in coping costs between 2001 and 2014 may provide an opportunity for the municipal water utility to substantially increase water tariffs if the quantity and quality of piped services can be improved. However, the capital investments made by some households in private wells, pumping and treatment systems, and storage tanks in response to the delay in infrastructure investment may lock them into current patterns of water use, at least in the short run, and thus make it difficult to predict how they would respond to tariff increases for improved piped water services.
2 Suwal, B. R.; Zhao, J.; Raina, A.; Wu, X.; Chindarkar, N.; Kumar, K. C. B.; Whittington, D. 2019. Households' preferences for water tariff structures in Kathmandu, Nepal. Water Policy, 21(S1):9-28. [doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2019.079]
Water supply ; Water rates ; Tariffs ; Prices ; Households ; Socioeconomic environment ; Water use ; Case studies ; Strategies ; Models / Nepal / Kathmandu
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049459)
(0.29 MB)
Despite being politically sensitive, water tariffs are frequently administered without information about households' preferences for tariff structures. In this paper we examine the tariff preferences of 1,500 households in Kathmandu, Nepal. We first use a bivariate probit model to examine stated preferences for (1) an increasing block tariff (IBT) and (2) a positive fixed charge. We find that household preferences for IBTs and fixed charges are not easily explained by household socioeconomic and water use characteristics. Second, we ask respondents what they think a fair water bill would be for a randomly assigned quantity of water. We model the responses as a function of both quantity and household socioeconomic and water use characteristics. While households support a water tariff that results in a household's water bill increasing as a household's water use increases, we do not find evidence that households support an increasing, nonlinear relationship between water use and a household's water bill. Our results suggest that respondents desire affordable piped water services and water bills that are calculated fairly for everyone. Because the notion of fairness in Kathmandu varies, utility managers may have considerable latitude in choosing a tariff structure that focuses on other objectives, such as cost recovery, revenue stability, and economic efficiency.
3 Raina, A.; Zhao, J.; Wu, X.; Kunwar, L.; Whittington, D. 2019. The structure of water vending markets in Kathmandu, Nepal. Water Policy, 21(S1):50-75. [doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2019.181]
Water market ; Market structure ; Water supply ; Supply chain ; Water rates ; Pricing ; Drinking water ; Bottled water ; Pipes ; Tanks ; Profit ; Households ; Dry season ; Wet season / Nepal / Kathmandu Valley
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049460)
(0.63 MB)
To date, there has been limited empirical research on the structure of informal water vending markets in developing countries. From fieldwork conducted in Kathmandu in 2014, including a survey of different types of water vendors, household interviews, and in-depth interviews with key informants, we provide a detailed description of the activities of multiple types of water vendors and examine the profitability of tanker truck vendors and water source vendors. We find that several distinctive markets operate along the supply chain between source water and end users. We conclude that a detailed understanding of the different vending activities in which water vendors engage is essential to the design of public sector policy interventions aimed at improving performance in informal water markets.
4 Chen, Y. J.; Chindarkar, N.; Zhao, J.. 2019. Water and time use: evidence from Kathmandu, Nepal. Water Policy, 21(S1):76-100. [doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2019.082]
Water use ; Time allocation ; Water supply ; Tap water ; Households ; Water productivity ; Socioeconomic environment ; Pipes ; Wells ; Infrastructure ; Wet season ; Dry season ; Regression analysis / Nepal / Kathmandu
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049461)
(0.77 MB)
In this paper, we examine the effect of private tap water reliability on time spent on water collection and total water consumption among urban households in Kathmandu, Nepal. Although the majority of households in Kathmandu are connected to a private tap, they experience intermittent water supply. We link a unique time diary dataset collected between 2014 and 2015 to household water consumption and tap water reliability data. Our empirical analyses demonstrate that improved reliability of private tap water connection (PWC), measured as self-reported reliability and an objective measure of ‘probability of getting tap water in the next hour’, leads to increased time spent on water collection. Households with more reliable PWC also consume more water overall and from their own taps. Further investigation demonstrates that when private taps became more reliable, households substituted water collected from outside the household, such as water from public taps and public wells, with water from their own private taps. Our results proved robust to additional specification checks.
5 Wang, J.; Wei, J.; Shan, W.; Zhao, J.. 2023. Modeling the water-energy-food-environment nexus and transboundary cooperation opportunity in the Brahmaputra River Basin. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 49:101497. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2023.101497]
Transboundary waters ; International waters ; International cooperation ; River basin ; Climate change ; Hydroelectric power generation ; Game theory ; Water resources ; Water demand ; Frameworks ; Sustainable development ; Infrastructure ; Economic benefits ; Economic development ; Food security ; Energy ; Stakeholders ; Nexus approaches ; Irrigation water ; Runoff ; Environmental protection / China / India / Bangladesh / Brahmaputra River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H052185)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581823001842/pdfft?md5=b703e2348e298690efb1edfb889d077d&pid=1-s2.0-S2214581823001842-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H052185.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H052185.pdf
(7.71 MB) (7.71 MB)
Study region: The Brahmaputra River Basin.
Study focus: The Brahmaputra River Basin (BRB) is the most environmentally fragile and politically unstable transboundary river basin in South Asia. Therefore, incorporating the environmental sector into water-energy-food system analysis is necessary to better serve water resource management in the BRB. Integrated water resources system analysis can provide more perspectives for alleviating political tension and promoting cooperation in the basin. This study proposes a modeling framework to explore the water-energy-food-environment (WEFE) nexus and analyze transboundary cooperation opportunities in the BRB. Employing the framework, we attempt to answer three questions: (1) how can we understand the relationships between various sectors and coordinate their water demands? (2) How do these relationships influence riparian countries’ decisions? (3) What measures can promote the sustainable development of the BRB under climate change and water infrastructure development?
New hydrological insights for the region: The results show that the trade-off curve between economic benefits and environmental costs has declining marginal value in the BRB. When environmental constraints are raised, countries are more inclined to cooperate to obtain more economic benefits. Full cooperation in the BRB increases the economic benefits and prompts riparian countries to take a greener road among the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP126). Water resource project construction can improve the utility of water resources in a country, thus enhancing its discourse power on benefit reallocation.
Study focus: The Brahmaputra River Basin (BRB) is the most environmentally fragile and politically unstable transboundary river basin in South Asia. Therefore, incorporating the environmental sector into water-energy-food system analysis is necessary to better serve water resource management in the BRB. Integrated water resources system analysis can provide more perspectives for alleviating political tension and promoting cooperation in the basin. This study proposes a modeling framework to explore the water-energy-food-environment (WEFE) nexus and analyze transboundary cooperation opportunities in the BRB. Employing the framework, we attempt to answer three questions: (1) how can we understand the relationships between various sectors and coordinate their water demands? (2) How do these relationships influence riparian countries’ decisions? (3) What measures can promote the sustainable development of the BRB under climate change and water infrastructure development?
New hydrological insights for the region: The results show that the trade-off curve between economic benefits and environmental costs has declining marginal value in the BRB. When environmental constraints are raised, countries are more inclined to cooperate to obtain more economic benefits. Full cooperation in the BRB increases the economic benefits and prompts riparian countries to take a greener road among the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP126). Water resource project construction can improve the utility of water resources in a country, thus enhancing its discourse power on benefit reallocation.
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