William F. Vásquez

Willingness to pay for safe drinking water: evidence from Parral, Mexico.

A referendum-format contingent valuation (CV) survey is used to elicit household willingness to pay responses for safe and reliable drinking water in Parral, Mexico. Households currently adopt a variety of averting and private investment choices (e.g., bottled water consumption, home-based water treatment, and installation of water storage facilities) to adapt to the existing water supply system. These revealed behaviors indicate the latent demand for safer and more reliable water services, which is corroborated by the CV survey evidence. Validity findings include significant scope sensitivity in WTP for water services. Further, results indicate that households are willing to pay from 1.8% to 7.55% of reported household income above their current water bill for safe and reliable drinking water services, depending upon the assumptions about response uncertainty.

External and Internal Consistency of User Evaluations

User evaluations may be useful to improve the quality of public services if they are consistent with service characteristics (i.e., external consistency) and user satisfaction (i.e., internal consistency). This article analyses the internal and external consistency of user evaluations of water services in Nicaragua. Internal consistency is assessed through item-total correlations, Cronbachs alpha coefficient, and factor analysis. External consistency is analyzed through ordered logit and regression models. Results show a considerable degree of internal consistency. However, user evaluations are only partially consistent with service performance as personal characteristics also influence individual perceptions of the overall service, water pressure, system reliability, and water quality.

System reliability and water service decentralization: Investigating household preferences in Nicaragua

Concern continues to grow over unreliable water access at the household level in many developing countries. A contingent valuation survey was designed to elicit willingness-to-pay for safe and reliable drinking water in León, Nicaragua. In addition, split-sample treatments were used to investigate preferences for two forms of service governance: the current, centralized water supplier and a decentralized service implemented at the municipal level. Results show that households are willing to pay a substantial increase in their water bills for reliable water supply. Findings also indicate that households hold greater confidence in the current, centralized provider rather than a localized service based on several characteristics such as overall service, awareness of water issues, interest in solving water problems, capacity, accountability, and potential investment.

Opportunities and Challenges for Community Involvement in Public Service Provision in Rural Guatemala

The purpose of the research summarized in this paper is to provide policy-relevant knowledge on the governance of rural services in Guatemala and thus to contribute to improving the provision of services that are essential for agricultural and rural development. Based on quantitative and qualitative primary data, we examine how services are actually provided today and how community preferences and participation affect service provision in rural Guatemala. Our main finding is that the provision of formally decentralized services by local governments is incomplete.

Household preferences for municipal water services in Nicaragua

Choice models and a referendum format contingent valuation survey are used to investigate household preferences for improved water services and decentralization levels (actual departmental administration vs. further decentralization to the municipality) in urban Matiguas, Nicaragua. Choice models suggest that households prefer the current departmental administration over municipal provision for service and capacity, but believe that the municipality would be more interested in improving services. Results also indicate that households are willing to pay an increment of at least 112 per cent above their current monthly water bill for reliable and safe drinking water services, regardless of administration type.

Can user perception influence the quality of water services? Evidence from León, Nicaragua

This article investigates the validity of citizen feedback to evaluate the quality of water services in León, Nicaragua. Using generalized ordered logit models, this study presents a comprehensive evaluation of user satisfaction from water service characteristics. Potential asymmetries in the response of user satisfaction to relative perception of service performance are also investigated. Findings indicate that citizen satisfaction is based on basic service characteristics rather than socio-demographics, and that relativity matters. Users tend to overemphasize their frustration if they perceive that they have lower quality of water services than their peers, and understate their satisfaction if they perceive that they have better services. Points for practitioners Based on the evidence presented in this article, citizen surveys can be used as a tool to improve water services, particularly in places where public service users have no voice and alternatives to cope with low quality services do not exist. However, citizen survey results should be carefully interpreted given that users overemphasize their frustration if they perceive that they have lower quality of services than their peers. Policy design based on citizen surveys should take into account this potential asymmetry in citizen satisfaction, particularly in places with heterogeneous service performance.

Nonpayment of water bills in Guatemala: Dissatisfaction or inability to pay?

This paper investigates nonpayment behavior in Guatemala. Determinants of nonpayment behavior are identified through zero-inflated negative binomial regression models in order to take into account particular distributional characteristics of the amount of outstanding payments. Findings indicate that nonpayment behavior is a demonstration of consumer dissatisfaction with current water services. The amount of outstanding bill payments also responds to system unreliability. Results also suggest that nonpayment behaviors are more prominent in community-managed systems than in municipal systems. No evidence was found on a potential relationship between nonpayment behavior and household income. Policy implications are discussed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Willingness to pay for reliable supplies of safe drinking water in Guatemala: A referendum contingent valuation study

Unreliability of water systems has become a major concern in many developing countries. A referendum-format contingent valuation (CV) survey was implemented to investigate household preferences, in monetary terms, for improved water services in the small town of San Lorenzo, Guatemala. A random sample of 500 households report that they currently adopt a variety of averting measures (e.g. in-home water storage and treatment) to cope with service interruptions and low water quality. Findings also indicate that households are willing to pay an increase of more than 200% in their water bill for reliable supplies of safe drinking water.

Willingness to pay and willingness to work for improvements of municipal and community‐managed water services

This study investigates household preferences, in labor time and monetary terms, for improved water services in Guatemala using sequential contingent valuation questions. The household survey was implemented in areas served by municipal and community-managed systems, which allows for comparing household preferences under those governance approaches. Results show that respondents with municipal services are willing to pay a substantial increase (more than 200%) in their water bills for reliable supplies of safe drinking water. They are also willing to work approximately 19 h per month for such improved services when labor hours are proposed as the payment vehicle. In contrast, households with community-managed services are not willing to pay or work for service improvements, even though they report to be quite dissatisfied with current services. Policy implications are discussed.

Choice modeling of system-wide or large scale environmental change in a developing country context: Lessons from the Paraíba do Sul River

The Rio Paraiba do Sul is a highly polluted river in south central Brazil, that is contaminated by industrial, agricultural and municipal wastes, as well as being impacted by dams, water withdrawals and deforestation in the watershed. Since only very intensive and farreaching environmental policies could result in water quality improvements, valuing the restoration of the river presents many unique challenges. We develop a choice-modeling approach to valuation of the restoration of this river, with general tightening of environmental policy as the policy, and an increase in prices as the payment vehicle. The estimation is performed in willingness to pay space, adjusting for heterogeneity of tastes. We find that respondents, who are primarily low income, exhibit higher willingness to pay for complete restoration than moderate restoration, higher for moderate restoration in comparison to minimal restoration, and that they prefer restoration sooner, rather than later.